The Village of East Hills said last Wednesday that it has received an Aa1 credit rating, the highest score offered by the rating firm Moody’s Investors Service.
“We are all very proud and gratified by these results,” East Hills Mayor Michael Koblenz said. “We watch everything we spend and we are careful with our projects.”
In a report, Moody’s said the rating “reflects a very strong financial position and a superior socioeconomic profile with a solid tax base.”
The median family income in East Hills is $164,536, or 295 percent of the median family income for the United States, the report said.
The report lauded the village’s “exceptionally light debt burden” and its “affordable pension liability.”
Koblenz said the village has an annual budget of $12 million, which covers the cost of security, sanitation and park maintenance, among other services.
“Every Saturday morning I look at every invoice and I sign the checks,” Koblenz said. “Then the board looks at the disbursements and they have questions. If they don’t get a satisfactory answer, [the recipient] won’t a get check.”
“We’re keeping a tight rein,” he added. “It’s the only way to do it.”
The village received an Aa1 rating last year as well, Koblenz said.
While laudatory, the Moody’s report did identify a decline in the total value of taxable property in East Hills over the past four years. The tax base was valued at $2.118 billion in 2013 and dipped to $1.959 billion in 2016, though it saw a slight uptick over the past year from $1.923 billion in 2015.
Koblenz said “the rating would help” if the village goes forward with a bond measure to fund a proposed $500,000 security camera installation.
The village will first attempt to raise the money through grants and capital reserves, he added.
A $250,000 grant application has been filed with Assemblyman Charles Lavine’s office.
