Standard&Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its 'AAA' long-term rating to Needham, Mass.' series 2011 general obligation (GO) municipal-purpose loan bonds and affirmed its 'AAA' long-term rating on the town's existing GO parity debt. The outlook on the long-term ratings is stable. Concurrently, Standard&Poor's assigned its 'SP-1+' short-term rating to Needham's GO bond anticipation notes (BANs). The short-term note rating reflects our revised criteria for evaluating and rating bond anticipation notes (BANs). In our view, the city maintains a very strong capacity to pay principal and interest when the notes come due. The town maintains a low market risk profile as it maintains strong legal authority to issue long-term debt to take out the notes and is
