Guam - Six months ago the Series "A" bond received the highest investment rating in the Government of Guam's history. And today, the Calvo Administration once again achieved that exact feat as they heard back from the ratings agencies with news worth celebrating. Two weeks ago, Governor Eddie Calvo and his fiscal team met with Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's in order to achieve the Series "B" bond to pay for tax refunds.

And just last week, he said he would remain cautiously optimistic on GovGuam's business privilege tax bonds, which today Fitch assigned an "A-" rating followed by an "A" rating from S&P. "The important news here is on a stable outlook," said the governor.

The Series "B" bond is for $108.7 dollars. Calvo adds even though the global community is in financial upheaval, the Administration made it known to the rating agencies that the economic development efforts not only hinges on the buildup alone but tourism as well and that they are committed to implementing economic enhancement and deficit elimination strategies and fiscal stability. "We anticipate good news for the government in terms of its fiscal condition and the stabilization of the government and its finances, and great news because we anticipate getting those tax refunds to the people in the next several weeks," he said.

Guam Economic Development Authority administrator Karl Pangelinan noted that not all 2011 tax refunds would be paid out with the Series "B" bonds because part of the bond proceeds would go toward paying for the Government of Guam Retirement Fund and health insurance premiums, leaving only roughly between $50 million to $60 million in tax refunds. He says because the bond was split, it has presented some challenges. "Of course, we fully intended on paying all that $343 million all of the proceeds for that to unpaid tax refunds," he said, "so every dollar that is appropriated or used other than tax refunds we now need to plan for."

And it was just yesterday that the Fiscal Responsibility and Tax Refund Commission met to discuss recommendations in not only addressing the over-billion dollar deficit but how to address paying for the remaining and future tax refunds. Governor Calvo is hoping to either replicate the 4.94% interest rate acquired through the series "a" bond or even less.

So how were they able to achieve the same ratings? "As when we start walking the walk essentially and showing them that what we're doing in terms of tightening our belts and what we're doing in terms of rightsizing and keeping an eye on our fiscal matters, that really makes sense and are resonating with the ratings agency," he said.

And although Guam has demonstrated weak General Fund operations with a history of operating deficits, Fitch's credit profile noted the current administration is taking steps to achieve structural balance.

So what's next? GEDA is expected to market the bond in the next week or two, price the week of May 23 and close the first week of June, which essentially means the money should be in the bank at this time.