Moody's downgrades Macon-Bibb's bond rating due to deficits

UPDATE: 10:54PM:

Mayor Robert Reichert says the rating service didn't like how the county was using reserve funds to pay for some general fund expenses.

He says the practice "has depleted the savings account now to where it's at a point that Moody's and everybody else says, 'This isn't good. That's not healthy for a community of that size to have a rainy day savings account that's that low.'"

The credit downgrade will likely make it more expensive for the county to borrow money.

However, Reichert says he doesn't expect the county to borrow any money for the general fund in the near future.

"So hopefully, there'll be no impact other than having our feelings hurt," said Reichert.

To those who see this as the latest in a string of bad news for the county's finances, Reichert says it's not as bad as it looks.

"If anybody tells me, 'Oh, we're in a financial crisis,' no, I don't think it's a financial crisis for us. It's a very tight budget year," said Reichert.

Reichert says he hopes that tight budget plus tax revenue helps cut the county's deficit and replenish its reserves.

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Citing the county's current deficit and one predicted for next year, a bond-rating service has lowered Macon-Bibb County's bond rating.

Moody's last week lowered Macon-Bibb from AA2 -- considered high quality and very low credit risk -- to A1 --upper medium quality and low credit risk.

A lower bond rating may mean it will cost the county more to borrow money.

Moody's March 29 news release cites the county's "larger than expected deficit for fiscal 2017 and another projected deficit for fiscal 2018," which they say will cut into the county's reserves.

"Tax base growth has lagged" and the county's socio-economic factors are below average, Moody's says.

The company also predicts that "the county's reserves will stabilize, although remain narrow."

Moody's writes that the county's rating could improve due to "multi-year trend of positive operating performance" and "tax base expansion coupled with improved socio-economic factors."

The Macon-Bibb rating could drop again, the company warns, due to deficits in the next fiscal year and further drops in their reserves, tax-base deterioration and a large increase in debt.

Macon-Bibb County is facing a $4 million budget shortfall this year, and as much as a $10 million budget deficit in the next year. County officials warn that that could drain Macon-Bibb's reserve funds.