AUGUSTA – The Maine Municipal Bond Bank, an independent state authority created by the Legislature in 1971, has been awarded the highest possible credit rating, AAA, from the Standard and Poor’s national credit rating company. The bond bank was created to provide better access and lower cost for local governments and school systems selling tax-exempt bonds to pay for capital projects.

“This credit rating standing for the bond bank means that we can assure every town and governmental district in the state that sells their tax-exempt bonds through the bond bank the lowest interest rate cost available in the national credit markets,” said Robert L. Lenna, the bank’s executive director. “This was just the type of benefit the Legislature wanted to make available to all Maine’s local governmental units when it created the bank.”

For the last several years, the bond bank has provided local governments with interest-rate costs based on an insured AAA rating. The insured AAA rating is the second-best credit rating available for tax-exempt bonds, just below the natural AAA rating the bank has just received.