Credit rating unchanged at AA

International credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has reaffirmed the council’s AA credit rating.

An AA rating is the agency’s second highest and means recipients have a “very strong capacity to meet their financial commitments”.

The agency says it expects the council’s operating surpluses to continue to improve and notes that the council has controlled growth in operating expenditure and reduced debt.

Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace says the rating underlines the council’s careful approach to managing ratepayers’ money and makes the council one of the most creditworthy in the country.