Suffolk County officials hailed the news Wednesday that Moody's Ratings raised the county's bond rating to A1 from A3, with the outlook remaining positive. The upgrade marked the third received by the county from credit-rating agencies since Dec. 1.

Moody's said that the upgrade to A1 "reflects the county's significantly improved financial position driven by robust sales tax growth, conservative budgeting and sound operational oversight."

According to Moody's, the A1 upgrade "reflects a reserve position that continues to improve after years of negative fund balance, cash flow borrowing to support operations and overly optimistic budgetary assumptions."

"This is tremendous news," County Executive Ed Romaine said in a news release about the upgrade. He credited his administration and its work with the Suffolk County Legislature "to deliver a more efficient and affordable Suffolk County to the taxpayers."

Suffolk County Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey said that the "savings in interest expense will benefit Suffolk County residents for many years to come."

On Dec. 5, Fitch Ratings assigned an A rating to Suffolk County's $46.8 million GO refunding serial bonds and a F-1+ rating for the County's upcoming sale of $350 million of tax anticipation notes. On Dec. 9, S&P Global Ratings assigned an AA- long-term rating to Suffolk County's $46.8 million GO refunding bonds and a SP-1+ short-term rating to the County's $350 million tax anticipation notes.

According to Fitch's report, "the Positive Outlook reflects Fitch's expectations for the county's continued budgetary stability and maintenance of a sound reserve position."

According to S&P's report, the long-term rating reflects "the county's stronger management practices and financial performance that have paved the way to historical levels of reserves and budgetary flexibility heading into fiscal 2025."