Mineola, NY - Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi announced today that Standard & Poor's Financial Service has upgraded the County Bond rating to BBB from BBB- and has changed the County' s outlook to positive. This is the second bond rating increase in less than a month for Nassau County.

"This is yet another endorsement from an independent Wall Street rating agency," said County Executive Suozzi. "Not only does this mean lower interest costs to the county, but it is the seal of approval by an independent fiscal agency, with no partisan agenda, saying loudly and clearly Nassau is moving in the right direction again."

In a release issued by Standard & Poor's earlier today, the investor service cited several major contributing factors regarding its decision to upgrade the County's rating. Among those factors were: "[the] County management's steady pace, to date, in implementing components of its financial plan; the development of comprehensive, reliable fiscal and operational data; improvement in financial performance . . ."

Standard & Poor's credit analyst Howard Mischel said the rating upgrade was based on the County's new management team and their ability to tackle issues relating to revenue enhancements, expenditure control, labor issues, and the property assessment system. "By preparing a detailed four-year plan to return a structural budget balance, Nassau County took an important step on the road to fiscal recovery," said Mischel.

The first bond upgrade came three weeks ago when Moody's Investor Service upgraded the County's rating from Baa3 to Baa2. Moody's said its decision was based on workforce reduction efforts, reduced expenditures and a conservatively structured budget for 2003.