Standard & Poor’s, one of the nation’s bond-rating agencies, recently upgraded the City of Hastings general obligation bonds to AA+ and assigned an AA+ rating to the city’s 2023A General Obligation bonds, which were issued this week to support the Neighborhood Infrastructure Improvements project.

The raise was described at Monday night’s Hastings City Council meeting as one notch up and brings the city to the top 15 percent in the state in terms of bond rating.

The AA+ designations will result in lower interest costs for the city.

In the agency’s rating summary, S&P said it assigned the upgraded long-term ratings due to an improved Financial Management Assessment score along with continuous improvement to economic metrics. S&P cited the City’s new five-year financial planning model and improved tax base as the primary reasons for the designations. 

“The AA+ rating is a move in the right direction for the City of Hastings and shows that the City’s longer-term financial planning efforts and processes are solid,” said City Administrator Dan Wietecha. “In addition, strong growth in the City’s residential and commercial development over the past year has led to an increase in the tax base and to a strong fund balance.”

The city bonding for its Neighborhood Infrastructure Program this year was for $4,095,000 of bonds sold Monday to TD Securities of New York at an interest rate of 3.06 percent. Over the life of the bonds, the city will save $40,000 because of the higher bond rating.