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The city of Las Vegas and its Redevelopment Agency continue to move forward with redevelopment efforts designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs, and this is resulting in credit analysts giving the city strong bond ratings.
Fitch Ratings last week assigned the city a “AA” bond rating to $105 million in general obligation bonds secured using car rental taxes, to be used for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts. The sale of these bonds is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, March 24.
Recently, Standard & Poor’s, one of the largest bond rating agencies in the world, reaffirmed the Redevelopment Agency’s (RDA) “A” bond rating, despite a struggling economy. The RDA last week sold $85 million in redevelopment bonds to help finance the Smith Center, infrastructure on Union Park, the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement and other redevelopment projects.
“The city is extremely pleased that the RDA’s successes are being recognized in the investment community, despite the struggling economy,” said City Manager and Executive Director of the RDA Elizabeth N. Fretwell. “Sustaining the ‘A’ rating is attributed to the hard work of RDA staff who continue to manage the agency in an effective and efficient way.”
The RDA is designed to stimulate new development and redevelopment within its boundaries. These new developments bring in goods and services to a previously blighted areas. These developments in turn create additional tax revenue that can be used to provide services for city residents. The existing tax base and revenues that existed at the time the RDA was established continue to go to schools, public safety and other public needs.
Over the last five years the tax revenue generated by the RDA has tripled from roughly $8 million a year to $25 million per year. About 20 percent of these new tax revenues from the RDA go toward education and critical public services. This in turn provides additional funding for education and city services. Over that same time period the RDA has developed 104 projects totaling $3 billion in private investment, which created 7,660 permanent jobs and 10,917 construction jobs.
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