newsroom@reviewonline.com
LISBON — Columbiana County’s financial standing has so improved in recent months that the county has been awarded with an upgraded bond rating by Moody’s Investors Services.
Commissioner Mike Halleck commended both Auditor Nancy Milliken and Treasurer Linda Bolon and other office holders with achieving the feat: the highest county bond rating he can remember.
The county has been upgraded to an Aa2 from an Aa3. The report from Moody’s notes the rating “reflects the county’s exceptionally strong reserves and low bonded debt.”
Milliken said as part of the budget commission, she estimates the amount of debt and money the county has in reserve, then speaks with the Moody’s Investors Services each year. She agrees this is the highest rating the county has received and hopes to see it go even higher next year.