Treasurer says state's financial ranking now in top tier

• Published July 18, 2008

The state’s financial health got another good rating this week, according to state Treasurer Mike Murphy’s office.

Moody’s Investor Services moved Washington into its Tier 1 category in its U.S. States Credit Scoreboard 2008 rankings, up from Tier 2 last year and Tier 3 in 2006. That comes at a time the state expects to have a $800 million surplus in its 2007-09 budget cycle and a shortfall of $2 billion or more in the next cycle.

“This is good news and reflects the fact that Washington government is doing a good job at keeping a handle on its financial future,” Murphy said in a news release.

Ten states are in the top tier, Murphy spokesman Karl Roeber said. The others besides the Evergreen State are: Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.

Moody’s uses the scoreboard in its credit analysis of state governments’ general-obligation bonds, but Roeber could not say the ranking would improve the state’s bond rating.

“In general, higher ratings can be expected among states with the highest statistical scores and rankings from the scoreboard — but there is no guarantee that it will necessarily have implications for a state’s bond rating,” he explained in an e-mail.