The city of Westbrook has received a positive financial review from Moody’s Investors Services, showing strong financial health, according to Mayor Mike Foley.

The city maintained its Aa3 rating from the auditing company, which helps the city maintain low-interest rates when getting financing for large projects. Ratings are generally affected by and show the city’s financial health.

“I attribute these results to the City Council’s support of our fiscal management strategies and the tremendous staff we have leading our Finance Department under the direction of Suzanne Knight,” Foley said at a City Council meeting Monday.

City officials had been concerned the rating would drop because of the school department’s previous debt of $3 million. The department reported in January that its deficit had been reduced to $1.1 million and as of this week said it had dropped to $588,054.

“Some of the finances we’ve gotten back have been faster than anticipated even,” school Superintendent Peter Lancia told the American Journal.

“We were able to reduce our overall deficit by nearly half in one fiscal year,” said Heather Neal, the school department’s director of finance Heather Neal said. “This was achieved through improved account coding to ensure we were maximizing revenues, closely monitoring expenses, and utilizing the use of funds from other sources.”
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