Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Bayonne’s bond rating from “stable” to “positive,” stating that the city has gone from a Baa1 rating with a “stable outlook” to a Baa1 rating with a “positive outlook,” according to a report they released on Monday. 
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Moody’s explains that the “positive outlook” comes from “the city’s improving financial position and reduced reliance on one-time revenues.”
According to Moody’s, the rating could go up if the city makes a “successful transition to structural balance” and create “substantial growth in the city’s tax base and socioeconomic indicators.”
A downgrade, which would remove the positive outlook label, could occur in the event that the tax base and socioeconomic indicators decrease, or if “continued structural imbalance leading to material decrease in reserves” occurs.
Additionally, Moody’s ranked three separate bonds the city of Bayonne is selling on an individual basis: General Improvement Refunding Bonds for $13.6 million (Baa1 rating), Parking Utility Refunding Bonds for $2.5 million (Baa1 rating) and School Refunding Bonds for $14.8 million (Baa1 rating, Aa3 enhanced rating).
In the Moody’s ranking system, Aaa is the best possible rating and C is the worst possible rating.
In a statement, Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis said that the Moody’s upgrade is a clear indicator that the plan his administration has implemented is “working.”
“Having an independent entity come in and confirm what we believed to be true is welcome news. The outlook upgrade is an objective sign that things are moving in the right direction, and that the plan put in motion is working.”
The report comes days after Moody’s downgraded Union City’s credit rating, saying the “outlook [is] negative.”
