Islip maintains top bond rating from Moody's

The Town of Islip has retained its top bond rating from Moody's Investors Service. 

Moody's gave Islip an AAA rating, which is the highest a municipality can earn. The agency has maintained Islip's AAA rating for the past seven years, since assigning it in 2016. 

“The Aaa issuer rating reflects the town’s stable financial operations with healthy reserve levels and strong economic profile,” Moody’s said in a report released in late April.

“The town has pledged its faith, credit and taxing authority for repayment of the bonds,” Moody’s added. 

Town Comptroller Joseph Ludwig, in a news release, said, “Our willingness to look at the process realistically is something that continues to have a positive impact with the rating agencies. The goal always has to be, to maximize our revenues and decrease our expenditures.” 

Moody's rating measures credit risk within a municipality and reflects the town's financial outlook. The ratings are important because they affect the interest rate municipalities must pay when borrowing money. Moody’s rates the town every six months.

“We continue working closely with our commissioners to tighten budgets as necessary, making certain that each and every taxpayer dollar spent is done with the utmost scrutiny,” Supervisor Angie Carpenter said in a news release. “We have continued our zero-based budgeting to our spending plans, assuring that no projects move forward unless they are deemed truly essential.” 

Zero-based budgeting requires justification for each expense, even old and recurring expenses, before they're added to the budget.

The bonds will be used to finance capital projects in the town, with the largest encompassing improvements to marinas and bulkheads, according to Moody's.

Moody’s described Islip as “largely built out” and unlikely to “grow at the same rate as the rest of the country.” Fixed costs remain manageable, the agency said. 

According to Moody’s, the town has approximately $210 million in long-term debt. 

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.