Throughout 2026, the Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority has celebrated our 20th year serving local communities and developers. Today I’m pleased to announce another major milestone: we’ve been upgraded by S&P from an “A-” rating to an “A” rating with a stable outlook.
What does a higher credit rating mean to a borrower? Hundreds of thousands in interest savings. Last month, we could provide a $5 million, 30-year, tax-exempt loan for infrastructure at a fixed rate of 5.2%. This month, with the rating enhancement, we can provide the same loan with a 5% fixed rate. Over the life of the loan, lowering the rate by 20 basis points would save our borrower more than $220,000 in interest.
What does this mean to our communities? Lowering the cost of borrowing will help make development projects more viable. Any cost savings is meaningful to a real estate development project.
Infrastructure and housing are needed throughout our region, yet developers report to community leaders that they struggle to build new single-family and multifamily residential homes due to limited or no infrastructure. Both communities and developers have budget and cost constraints, often resulting in gaps in funding for the infrastructure.
CFCFA has several current and previous clients which are examples where we stepped in with bond financing to fill the void (such as Founders Park, Beulah Park, Grandview Crossing, Scioto Peninsula, Quarry Trails, Eastwood, and most recently, The Assembly). Our new rating should unlock even more possibilities. If a developer has already constructed and paid for the infrastructure, we may be able to issue bonds to reimburse the developer. And when developer’s cash is freed up, it creates opportunities for new projects.
With our new higher rating, we’re able to lower the cost of borrowing and potentially extend the amount we can loan when monetizing revenue streams.
Fueling Collaboration
Another community benefit is syndication. Finance Authorities across Ohio are known to collaborate, or syndicate, transactions when the project exceeds the single loan capacity of one Port Authority. If the other community’s bond fund has a lower bond rating, our A rating will help lower the overall cost of financing the project loan.
The S&P designation comes with many conditions to maintain or enhance the A rating status. It took 20 years to achieve the A rating. Rest assured we are committed to maintaining it!
Congratulations for 20 years of service to past and present Finance Authority staff, Board members, and stakeholders. Let’s talk about what we need to accomplish together in the next 20 years.