Cobb County Debt Wins AAA Rating From Fitch

ATLANTA-Cobb County, GA, the state’s third-largest county where multi-million-dollar commercial real estate projects have been completed in recent years with more planned for the near future, has received a top report card on its two new debt issues and on its $59.3 million in outstanding general obligation debt.

New York-based Fitch Ratings is giving Cobb a AAA rating on the $65 million worth of general obligation tax anticipation notes and $33.8 million of general obligation refunding bonds the county began selling on Wall Street March 25. The notes and bonds will mature from Jan. 1, 2004 to 2010.

As an assurance to developers, Fitch analysts Rebecca Hall and Amy Laskey report the county has “strong financial management, solid fund balances, low debt levels and an increasingly diverse economic base, as well as its proximity to Atlanta.” The county is just north of Downtown Atlanta.