Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'A' long-term rating to the Successor Agency to Watsonville Redevelopment Agency, Calif.'s 2016 tax allocation refunding bonds, series A and taxable series B. The outlook is stable. The rating reflects our view of the project area's: Very strong maximum annual debt service (MADS) coverage of 3.4x; Diverse taxpayer concentration, with the top 10 taxpayers accounting for 24% of incremental AV; and Closed lien, prohibiting the issuance of new debt except for refunding purposes. Somewhat offsetting these strengths, in our view, are the project area's: Moderately high volatility ratio of base-year assessed value (AV) to total AV of 0.38; and Relatively limited, mainly agricultural economy. The 2016 bonds are secured by a pledge of
