We all heard with much flair from Tom Davies Square yesterday the City of Greater Sudbury now has an AA credit rating issued by Standard and Poor.
Of course, this being a municipal election year, the spin that came out of the mayor’s office left one with the impression that the reason for this good rating was good financial stewardship and planning on the part of the current council, led by Mayor Bigger.
The announcement, and the subsequent spin, highlight a very disturbing lack of character and leadership on the part of Mayor Bigger. If one listened to all the back patting and self-congratulations, you could be forgiven in thinking this credit rating is solely a result of the actions of the current mayor and council.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
In 2014, when I was researching municipal bonds, I spoke with many financial experts on what could or could not be done. One of the questions raised was, what is the city’s current credit rating? I was told that because of the city's policy of pay as you go, all the credit rating agencies did not have a rating for Sudbury.
The reason was due to the city's pay-as-you-go policy, which was in place for the last 25 years or so. This policy kept the amount the city had borrowed so low and so infrequent that a rating was not justifiable.
The same financial experts also indicated that as soon as the city changed its pay-as-you-go policy and began to make sizeable loans that it would be rated by the various credit agencies. They also said that it would be a “very high rating” based on the unusually low debt level the city was carrying as a result of pay as you go.
So, it was with incredulity that I watched Mayor Bigger virtually take all the credit for the city getting this high rating, and claiming it was because of his and the current council’s good financial management and planning, when in fact the greatest part of the reason is the financial prudence on the part of all the previous mayors and councils.
Mayor Bigger simply filled out the credit application, he didn’t create the creditworthiness of the city, that was already done for him.
A true leader would have acknowledged the significance of the previous mayors and council’s contribution and given them the recognition that they deserve, instead of putting a spin on it, in an effort to bolster his own minor role in the city receiving this credit rating.
A true leader with character, would have thanked all those mayors and council members that came before him for their sound financial stewardship, which formed the foundation for this credit rating, instead of being disingenuous.
Dan Melanson
Sudbury