Rating Action: Moody's upgrades Templeton, MA GOs to Aa3

28 Jan 2020 New York, January 28, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service has upgraded to Aa3 from A1 the rating of the town of Templeton, Massachusetts's outstanding general obligation unlimited tax (GOULT) bonds. Additionally, Moody's assigns a Aa3 rating to the town's $9 million General Obligation Municipal Purpose Loan of 2020 Bonds.

RATINGS RATIONALE The upgrade to Aa3 reflects the significant improvement in the town's financial position over the past several years as management has improved its budgeting process to reflect more realistic targets leading to surpluses in each of the last five years. Additionally, the rating reflects a limited size tax base, an elevated but affordable debt burden, average pension liability, and low OPEB liability.

RATINGS OUTLOOK Moody's does not usually assign outlooks to local government credits with this amount of debt outstanding.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE -
Significant improvements to the tax base including resident wealth and incomes -
Sustained improvement in reserve levels -
Reduction of debt burden
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO A DOWNGRADE -
Significant decline in the tax base -
Significant drop in reserves