Fitch Ratings has upgraded the City of Buffalo's bond rating to "AA-" in its latest rating report, the highest rating the city has received from the agency.
"We are thrilled to be in the 'Double A' category with Fitch," said Buffalo Comptroller Mark J.F. Schroeder. "This is the first upgrade we have received from Fitch since it started rating the city in 2010."
The "AA-" rating is one notch higher than the "A+" Buffalo received from Fitch in April, and is currently the city's highest rating. Standard & Poor's upgraded the city to an "A+" rating in 2014, while Moody's upgraded Buffalo to "A1" in 2012.
"All three of the major rating agencies have upgraded the city in the brief time that I've been comptroller," said Schroeder, who took office in 2012. "That shows that Wall Street has taken notice of the progress Buffalo has made, both in managing its finances and building its economy."
Schroeder took analysts from Fitch on a tour of Buffalo last year in an effort to showcase the city's economic development projects. The tour included stops at the SolarCity site, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Larkinville, Canalside, the Outer Harbor, and the Buffalo River. Schroeder gave analysts from Moody's and Standard & Poor's similar tours in prior years.