good afternoon achieving a credit rating upgrade doesn't happen by accident achieving a credit grade upgrade a rating upgrade is achieved because of real leadership we have real leadership behind me in the form of our business administrator kathen long and our chief Financial Officer Javier Silva this achievement required difficult decisions that need to be needed to be made so that we can continue to position Patterson for progress and put our city on firmer Financial footing we are essentially making history here because For the First Time in recent memory Moody is upgrading our credit rating and I cannot thank our business administrator enough for her diligence for her devotion but also for being very conscientious and we refer to her as someone who's very meticulous but it's because she was diligent devoted conscientious and meticulous that were here announcing Patterson has achieved a credit rating upgrade and so as far as the future outlook is concerned we will continue to Place Patterson on firmer Financial footing so that future administrations will be in a position where they don't have to rely so much on the proverbial credit card so ladies and gentlemen join me in saluting our assiduous business administrator Kath long please thank you mayor um and I'm really glad that we're able to highlight this this this came back from Moody earlier this spring so at the end of March the city of Patterson received this upgrade um we are now at a uh credit rating of uh [Music] baa3 which um the city has been at a ba1 rating um since 2015 and um this this upgrade is is really significant um it does show that we have really that the city has been making some really tough um decisions uh for our finances and that started with this Administration when we came in and um made some choices about our health insurance when we um made sure that we started our sewer unity and uh when we made that decision for um during Co during a very difficult time to uh have a calendar year rsion that we went from a a fiscal year that ended um in June and began in July to to a calendar year that really afforded us the opportunity to create fund balance which is supported um and the needs of the city and is the best practice uh within uh within government hello councilman thank you for joining us um and so and by highlighting that this is one of the the main points that um movie Saw with this growth of fund balance that in particular really allows the city of Patterson to pay its bills on time and that's something that for for years you know we the city of Patterson collects uh Revenue that goes to the school district that goes to the county and a lot of times we have to delay um that our payments to those institutions because we just don't have um the cash flow that's adequate to to do that and by creating this fund balance which again is the best practice um in municipal government we have been able to do that and um so moody took note and it's something that we're going to be continuing going forward um the other ideas is really highlighting the support of the state and um while we had three straight years that we have been able to decrease our Reliance on transitional Aid it's really important to note um that they highlighted just having the support of the state um in just kind of De as they noted under their credit strengths they said that there's demonstrated from the demonstrated support from the state in the form form of annual transitional Aid so this is something that they know the state is there providing us support um and it also translate into our debt service and um that's the the other item of note from this credit upgrade was that um the city is not taking out as much debt as as the mayor mentioned the proverbial credit card a lot of that has been because the state of New Jersey through the transitional aid program has provided the city of Patterson with supplemental transitional Aid that we've used for uh a lot of the capital Investments that we would normally have to borrow for and so that includes facility Investments uh vehicle Investments for our our different departments so we are very grateful for the state to continue being that partner with us not only in our operating transitional aid but in our supplemental which has helped us um achieve this this uh credit rating in part because they as they highlighted in this March report they really did note that um we our our debt is decreasing and it's something that said favorably the city's debt is low and likely to remain low for the time being and that is something that um the CFO has has worked really hard for in doing our long-term projections of our debt service and and trying our best to make sure um that this is a bval Outlook going forward so mayor thank you for taking the time to really highlight this really historic day again the city of Patterson received a downgrade back in 2015 that brought us to that ba1 level and and so this is the first upgrade since then and it really a lot of times you know when people are asking oh why why is it so important that you're you know kind of really managing the budget and managing overtime users and managing debt um this is what where it's led to and it's led to the city of Patterson being seen in a better Financial footing and really being more responsible than it has in a really long time so thank you thank you mayor stay right there hold on I just want to say once again if I haven't said it at nauseum this is a test your leadership thank you Madame ba making difficult decisions making sure that we're focused on the future as far as Patterson and our financial footing is concerned and to reiterate this type of achievement a credit rating upgrade doesn't happen by accident you need true and real leadership in the form of a business administrator and CFO working in tandem so I also want to point out that we are grateful for the state a partner in this progress supplemental supplemental transitional Aid we've used to improve our parks for infrastructure Improvement and again business administrators making spread countless spreadsheets where she identifies areas where we don't have to borrow money to improve a park we don't have to borrow money to resurface a road we can be flexible we can Implement Divergent thinking be Innovative at as an Administration so that we do not not further burden the taxpayers of adderson nor depreciate our credit rating at this time fresh off of his resounding and robust reelection Victory you can see he's still radiant you're literally blowing I've never seen you look like this before you be canonized or something like that the beatification ladies and gentlemen the councilman from the fifth board for the next 4 years councilman leis a VZ and a starts with e so so man this is a collaboration I'm making sure that uh the administration works with the council uh we get worried when um we cannot buy on that credit card we get really when the city Outsiders see us like we not managing our finance and this is a testament a message that we working to make sure that when they say city of patteron we have a city of fiscal responsibility and this is one of the things that we always talk about in the council we challenge we work and but we work together to make sure that the image of the city of palis and the financial uh position is well met and this is a collaboration between the CFO a collaboration with the VA the Masterpiece on this and the administration and the council we cannot move the city forward if we don't come together for the minimal things that really matters in our city so moving forward we want to make sure that the city of pison is in a good standing and that the people that want to go in investment in the city see us in a financial good standing and that be able to open that credit line for our projects I remember way back when we were talking let's tried to do a lot of stuff with a capital Improvement uh and and the budget that we have without borrowing and I have seen that I have seen that MBA uh one of the things that the state always demand from us is be fiscal respons try to do with less money a lot of things and you have prove that and we going to keep continue proving that making sure the council understand that this city is moving forward thank you CFO I know you don't talk a lot you don't speak a lot but you know about numbers um I don't know how you do one and one and become zero but that's okay that means he's he's uh making sure that every penny counts in our city and making sure that the investment that the city wants and and and the project that moving forward is well represented with a good credit uh score of this so thank you mam ba thank you City P for trusting our Administration trusting the legislative body and everything that we do in the city of P thank you thanks yes Council councilman thank you once again congratulations the fifth Bo V voters have sof it to give you another 4year turn but I also want to take this time to tell Patterson residents that we made a promise the promise was that we will position Patterson for Progress that we would take abandoned properties and reduce them by about 80% we would invest a $100 million in improving our parks and every year we would look to resurface at least between 15 to 20 streets unfortunately the city was stagnant now we brought stability to the city and that again is a testament to the Visionary and responsible leadership of our business administrator who takes her role as the Judiciary Steward of the city very seriously and so I want to clearly give her enough credit all the credit that she deserves for getting us to this point and going even further and also want to thank our CFO have here Sil so I want to thank everybody for tuning in and stay tuned because we are going to continue to make sure that we position Patterson for future progress