Summary: Methuen, Massachusetts; General Obligation; Non-School State Programs

S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook to positive from stable and affirmed its 'AA-' underlying rating on Methuen, Mass.' general obligation (GO) debt outstanding. At the same time, we assigned our 'AA' long-term and 'AA-' underlying ratings to the city's approximately $10.345 million 2023 GO state-qualified municipal-purpose loan bonds. The outlook is also positive on the long-term rating, which reflects our view of the state program enhancement. The outlook revision on the underlying rating reflects the city's emergence from state oversight, expected continued reserve growth based on conservative budgetary assumptions and controls and continued updates of forward-looking financial management policies. The GO debt is secured by the city's full-faith-and-credit pledge, subject to the limits of Proposition 2-1/2. We rate the

...+ S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook to positive from stable and affirmed its '##-' underlying rating on Methuen, Mass.' general obligation (GO) debt outstanding. + At the same time, we assigned our '##' long-term and '##-' underlying ratings to the city's approximately $10.345 million 2023 GO state-qualified municipal-purpose loan bonds. + The outlook is also positive on the long-term rating, which reflects our view of the state program enhancement. + The outlook revision on the underlying rating reflects the city's emergence from state oversight, expected continued reserve growth based on conservative budgetary assumptions and controls and continued updates of forward-looking financial management policies. The GO debt is secured by the city's full-faith-and-credit pledge, subject to the limits of Proposition 2-1/2. We rate the limited-tax GO debt at the same level with our view of the city's general creditworthiness. We believe the city has sufficient fungibility of resources required...

Summary