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Ed Vogel
November 30, 2000
CARSON CITY -- Nevada's state government continued to receive the second-highest rating possible from New York investment houses, the state treasurer said Wednesday. Treasurer Brian Krolicki said Moody's Investment Service gave Nevada an Aa2, while Standard and Poor's awarded the state an AA rating. Six states with AAA ratings rank higher than Nevada.
The ratings were given as the treasurer sold $117.1 million worth of bonds for the state and local governments, including $100 million in highway improvement bonds. The sale included $15.6 million in bonds for water and sewer projects in rural counties. Dain Rauscher Inc. had the lowest bid at a 4.81 percent interest rate for the highway bonds, although bids by four other firms were only marginally higher. Morgan Stanley's 5.19 percent interest rate was the lowest of three for the rural project bonds. Krolicki was pleased by the active bidding for the bonds, including bidding over the Internet.
"This is the second issue where the state utilized electronic submissions of bids over the Internet," he said. "The state is always interested in researching new and more efficient ways of doing business." In rating Nevada, Moody's said the state economy has slowed, but Nevada remains the fastest growing state. Moody's also stated Nevada's per capita income of $31,022 in 1999 was 9 percent higher than the national average.
Moody's added Indian gaming in California could hurt small communities in Nevada, but not Las Vegas. The firm predicted Las Vegas may benefit from the spread of gaming since it might whet the appetites of gamblers for large-scale gaming.
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