LIHUE, Kauai — Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. says the county has received record high credit ratings from three bond rating companies.

Carvalho says that means the interest rate for a new $120 million bond issuance will be lower than it would have been with the previous ratings.
He says that will result in an estimated savings of some $3 million in gross interest costs over the life of the bond repayment period.
According to county officials, Moody’s Investors Service announced the county received an Aa3 rating, up from A1.
In addition, they say Standard & Poor’s Rating Services raised its rating and underlying rating for Kauai from AA- to AA, while Fitch Ratings assigned an AA- rating to the county and upgraded its general obligation debt to AA- from A+.