Standard&Poor's Ratings Services raised its long-term rating on Hopkinton, Mass.' general obligation (GO) bonds one notch to 'AAA' from 'AA+' based on the implementation of its local GO criteria released on Sept. 12, 2013. At the same time, we assigned our 'AAA' long-term rating to the town's series 2014 GO bonds. The outlook is stable. Hopkinton's full faith and credit GO pledge secures the bonds. Officials plan to use bond proceeds to redeem $1.4 million in bond anticipation notes (BANs) maturing on June 27, 2014, and to provide permanent financing for various capital improvement projects. There is no extension of maturity and the savings are taken evenly over the maturity schedule. The rating reflects our assessment of the
