Scranton announced Tuesday it got another bump up in its credit rating, from BBB+ to an A-, which is the highest grade for the city in recent decades at least and the latest positive financial step in a total turnaround from near bankruptcy in 2012.<\/p>\n
The credit-rating firm Standard & Poor\u2019s increased the city\u2019s credit rating from BBB+ with a positive outlook to A- with a stable outlook.<\/p>\n
Credit ratings on municipal borrowing through bonds impact the amount of interest paid on the debt. A higher credit rating reflects financial stability and translates into lower interest rates. A lower credit rating \u2014 or worse, no rating at all \u2014 reflects distress or uncertainty and translates into higher interest rates. Or, in other words, the higher the credit rating, the less debt will cost the city it can command lower interest rates on borrowing.<\/p>\n
The improved credit rating reflects a financially healthy city government that can afford to pay its bills, rely less on debt, and has sound financial policies in place to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly and efficiently, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said in the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are beginning the new year with very positive news for the City of Scranton,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cOur credit rating increase to A-, with a stable outlook, affirms that the taxpayer dollars we receive from our hard-working residents are being used effectively and appropriately to generate real results for our City. We will continue building a government that works for everyone and remain committed to excellence in our operations, management practices, and financial policies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s credit rating breaking into the grade A category of ratings levels is the latest step in the city\u2019s long road to improved financial health. The city lost its credit rating in 2011 and did not have it reinstated until 2016, but even then it was still characterized as \u201cjunk bond\u201d status.<\/p>\n
Some recent improvement steps included:<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 2022, the city finally successfully exited state Act 47 oversight after 30 years of being designated as financially distressed.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 2023 \u2014 and for the first time since 2011 \u2014 Standard & Poor\u2019s upgraded the city\u2019s bond rating to an investment-grade level of BBB-.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 2024, the city achieved an uncommon two-notch jump in its credit rating to BBB+, and with a positive outlook.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 2025, the city received the Secretary\u2019s Award for Municipal Excellence from Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Community and Economic Development.<\/p>\n
The new Standard & Poor\u2019s report cites as reasons for the upgrade: the city\u2019s economic activity, improved tax collections, budget performance and continued efforts over the past five years to tackle the city\u2019s debt burden and high unfunded retirement liabilities; and the recent Lackawanna County reassessment also is playing a role in improving the city\u2019s overall financial health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rating reflects our view of the city\u2019s stabilizing financial performance, restoration of reserves to healthier levels, and strengthening tax base, which has benefited from the most recent reassessment,\u201d the S&P report said.<\/p>\n
Scott Shearer of PFM, the city\u2019s financial advisor for the past 12 years, said the bond upgrade represents a milestone in the city\u2019s improved financial condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my 28-year public finance career, I have not seen such a remarkable turnaround for a client. A lot of hard work, hard decisions, and strong leadership have put the city in its strongest financial position,\u201d Shearer said in a statement provided in the city announcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scranton announced Tuesday it got another bump up in its credit rating, from BBB+ to an A-, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[182,139,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-85721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-local-news","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-scranton","11":"tag-scranton-headlines","12":"tag-scranton-news","13":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}