Freeport praised for budgetary practices

Moody’s Investors Service has given Freeport Village an A1 rating on new public improvement bonds and maintained that rating for outstanding long-term general obligation debt, citing the village’s improving budget practices.

Moody’s assigned the A1 rating -- considered as “upper medium grade” and a low credit risk -- to $47.6 million in public improvement bonds to be sold Friday, and to the village’s $130.3 million of long-term general obligation debt.

The rating agency reported it balanced “the recent narrowing of reserves due to poor budget assumptions and one-time expenditures . . . with the recent implementation of improved budgetary practices.” Moody’s reported it expected the village’s finances to stabilize in the coming year.

“Freeport’s fiscal health has never been better,” Mayor Andrew Hardwick said in a statement. The village, he said, “has paid down over $17 million of its debt, stayed under the tax cap and has guaranteed its continued fiscal strength for years to come.”