The Limestone County Water & Sewer Authority board this week received some good news about the utility’s credit rating.

At Thursday’s meeting, Jason Grubbs with investment firm Frazier Lanier told the board its S&P rating had jumped up two notches to “AA-”. The utility was previously at an “A,” followed by “A+.”

Grubbs told the board S&P gave the utility a “stable outlook,” and noted a “strong financial position, good management and good liquidity position you have.”

The S&P review also gave the utility high marks on its operational and organizational goals, its 20-year master plan that is regularly reviewed, and debt service coverage.

“You all and your staff should be commended by the job you did,” Grubbs told the board.

On Friday, Moody’s Investors Service announced it had assigned the LCWSA an initial “Aa3” rating based on “the water and sewer system’s strong financial performance with very strong liquidity, a moderate system size and average service area wealth.”

Daryl Williamson, chief executive officer for the LCWSA, said the utility had not been dual rated “in some time.” He was pleased by the ratings from both S&P and Moody’s.

“It’s a reflection of our cash-management position and reducing our leverage amount,” he said. “From our ratepayers’ perspective, the financial management of the utility has gotten much better, so when we need to borrow money again, we’ll be able to borrow it cheaper.”

Williamson did not anticipate having to enter the bond market again for another seven to eight years.

At Thursday’s meeting, the board voted to use proceeds from the sale of a portion of the LCWSA’s system to Huntsville Utilities to pay down existing debt. The utility received $11 million from the sale.

Also, in the refinance process, the utility was able to reset its principal and interest payment so that it will now repay $5 million annually to the debt holder. Grubbs told the board it would reduce their overall principal and interest debt from $153 million to $127 million.

Williamson was cautiously optimistic there would not be a rate increase for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, based on the utility’s current financial position. The board was presented the budget for the first time Thursday and won’t vote on it until the September meeting.