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Fall 2013 City Hall - 3800 Laverne Avenue North - Lake Elmo, Minnesota 55042 (651) 747-3900City Hall - 3800 Laverne Avenue North - Lake Elmo, Minnesota 55042 (651) 747-3900 Moody’s Investor Service has issued an Aa2 bond rat- ing for the City of Lake Elmo citing conservative budget- ing, annual surpluses, low debt burden, and favorable pension liability as credit strengths. The credit rating was issued as part of a $5.7 million bond offering that the City intends to use to pay for two sewer projects and a road project in the fall of 2013. Specifically, Moody’s noted that Lake Elmo’s affluent tax base in the Twin Cities Metro and the fact the City maintains a healthy reserve fund (80+%) as reasons to assign the Aa2 rating to the community. Other Minne- sota communities comparably sized to Lake Elmo are normally rated at the Aa3 level according to Moody’s rating matrix. The City of Lake Elmo’s finance team, led by Mayor Mike Pearson, traveled to Chicago to make a presen- tation to the Moody’s credit rating team in late August. “By all accounts it was one of the better presenta- tions Moody’s has seen in a while,” said Paul Donna of Northland Securities, Lake Elmo’s Financial Advisor. In other finance news, the Lake Elmo City Council re- cently approved a policy that requires developers seek- ing to use city bonding for infrastructure to commit to 100% payment via assessment or developers agree- ment. The formal written policy was adopted to ensure taxpayers would not be responsible for any costs as- sociated with private development. “Our goal with this policy is to protect the taxpayer. By reducing this philosophy to an official written document developers and landowners will know up front what is expected of them,” said Council member Wally Nelson, who is also a member of the City’s Finance Committee. The City recently executed against this policy in Sep- tember when 100% of the landowners involved in the sewer and water project along I-94 between Keats Av- enue and Inwood Avenue waived their ability to appeal assessments and agreed to pick up all costs of the project without objection. Moody’s Affirms City’s Aa2 Bond Rating The City’s finance team presented to Moody’s Investor Service in August. The City of Lake Elmo would like to extend a thank you to everyone in the commu- nity who attended the event this year. The two-day event, which was held on Friday, Sept. 6th, and Sat- urday, Sept. 7th, included a parade, business expo, family activities, public safety demonstrations, food, and live music. An estimated 1,500 people attended. Lake Elmo Days was made possible by help from countless volunteers and the support from the follow- ing businesses and organizations: Lake Elmo Jay- cees, Lennar Homes, Acti-Kare Responsive In-Home Care, Lawson Law Firm, Fury Motors, Lake Elmo Bank, Omega Events, Focus Engineering, Northland Securities, and Rockpoint Church. A Lake Elmo Days photo gallery is available online on the City’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/ LakeElmoMN. City of Lake Elmo Thanks Community, Event Sponsors