S&P Rts Pima Cnty USD 16(Catalina Foothills),AZ 'A+'
NY -- Standard & Poor's CreditWire 1/8/98 -- Standard &
Poor's today assigned its single-'A'-plus rating to Pima
County Unified School District No. 16 (Catalina Foothills), Ariz.'s
$10.6 million school improvement bonds (Project of 1997) series 1998.
Standard & Poor's affirmed its single-'A'-plus
rating on the district's outstanding school improvement bonds.
The rating reflects:
--·A growing community that benefits from its proximity to Tucson;
-- Continuing strong growth in property values;
-- High debt, offset by high per capita market values; and
-- Satisfactory financial position.
The Catalina Foothills district is situated in the foothills of the
Santa Catalina mountains with Tucson bordering its southern boundary. The
district is a growing residential community, whose economy depends heavily
on tourism -- Loews Ventana Canyon and Westin La Paloma, two of the
area's largest resorts are located within the district. Its location
allows for access to the Tucson metropolitan area's diverse
employment base. Some of Tucson's largest employers include the
University of Arizona, the state of Arizona, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,
and Hughes Aircraft. Residential construction has fueled steady property
growth, since 1990 assessed value (AV) has increased an average of 5.4%. A
surge in residential construction and significant adjustments to market
valuation, contributed to an 18% growth in AV raising it to $290.8 million
for fiscal 1998. Per capita market value is high at $93,526.
Catalina's high level of wealth has resulted in greater
enrollment pressures at the high school as those families able to afford
living within the district are usually professional type with older
children. The district projects however, enrollment to level off at around
2% as the district is built out. This rapid growth has fueled its high
debt burden. Although overall net debt to market value decreased from 4.1%
in 1996 to 3.4% in 1997, it is still high. Yet, the high level of wealth
of the district will keep the average tax bill affordable. This bond issue
passed with a substantial majority, and the proceeds will be used
primarily to add classrooms to the high school.
The district's financial performance is sound. A $1.0 million
operating surplus in fiscal 1997 brought the general fund balance up to
$1.87 million, or 10.0% of expenditures. The 1998 budget draws this
balance down to zero, as required by the state, however, a 4% contingency
has been built into the budget.
OUTLOOK: STABLE
The high wealth levels of the district will help to offset any
increased burden from the issuance of this new debt. In addition, the
school district feels another G.O. is unlikely as this issuance will help
to meet its capital needs for the foreseeable future. -- CreditWire
| Credit Analyst: |
Elizabeth Tracey, San Francisco (1) 415-765-5035 Tammy Eng, San Francisco (1) 415-765-5019 |
No content (including ratings, credit-related analyses and data, valuations, model, software, or other application or output therefrom) or any part thereof (Content) may be modified, reverse engineered, reproduced, or distributed in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC or its affiliates (collectively, S&P). The Content shall not be used for any unlawful or unauthorized purposes. S&P and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees, or agents (collectively S&P Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or availability of the Content. S&P Parties are not responsible for any errors or omissions (negligent or otherwise), regardless of the cause, for the results obtained from the use of the Content, or for the security or maintenance of any data input by the user. The Content is provided on an “as is” basis. S&P PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, FREEDOM FROM BUGS, SOFTWARE ERRORS OR DEFECTS, THAT THE CONTENT’S FUNCTIONING WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT THE CONTENT WILL OPERATE WITH ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE CONFIGURATION. In no event shall S&P Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of the Content even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
Credit-related and other analyses, including ratings, and statements in the Content are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact. S&P’s opinions, analyses, and rating acknowledgment decisions (described below) are not recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions, and do not address the suitability of any security. S&P assumes no obligation to update the Content following publication in any form or format. The Content should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the skill, judgment, and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors, and/or clients when making investment and other business decisions. S&P does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor except where registered as such. While S&P has obtained information from sources it believes to be reliable, S&P does not perform an audit and undertakes no duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives. Rating-related publications may be published for a variety of reasons that are not necessarily dependent on action by rating committees, including, but not limited to, the publication of a periodic update on a credit rating and related analyses.
To the extent that regulatory authorities allow a rating agency to acknowledge in one jurisdiction a rating issued in another jurisdiction for certain regulatory purposes, S&P reserves the right to assign, withdraw, or suspend such acknowledgement at any time and in its sole discretion. S&P Parties disclaim any duty whatsoever arising out of the assignment, withdrawal, or suspension of an acknowledgment as well as any liability for any damage alleged to have been suffered on account thereof.
S&P keeps certain activities of its business units separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain business units of S&P may have information that is not available to other S&P business units. S&P has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain nonpublic information received in connection with each analytical process.
S&P may receive compensation for its ratings and certain analyses, normally from issuers or underwriters of securities or from obligors. S&P reserves the right to disseminate its opinions and analyses. S&P's public ratings and analyses are made available on its Web sites, www.spglobal.com/ratings (free of charge), and www.ratingsdirect.com (subscription), and may be distributed through other means, including via S&P publications and third-party redistributors. Additional information about our ratings fees is available at www.spglobal.com/usratingsfees.
Any Passwords/user IDs issued by S&P to users are single user-dedicated and may ONLY be used by the individual to whom they have been assigned. No sharing of passwords/user IDs and no simultaneous access via the same password/user ID is permitted. To reprint, translate, or use the data or information other than as provided herein, contact S&P Global Ratings, Client Services, 55 Water Street, New York, NY 10041; (1) 212-438-7280 or by e-mail to: research_request@spglobal.com.