San Diego

San Diego on Tuesday became the first city in California since the passage of Proposition 13 to win an AA+ rating on its general obligation bonds from Standard & Poor’s, a New York bond-rating agency.

“Standard & Poor’s rating change confirms Moody’s recent AAA rating,” according to city auditor’s office spokesman Steve Hogan. Earlier this year, Moody’s, another bond-rating agency, boosted the city’s general obligation bond rating to AAA, a rating shared in California only by the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

“What Standard & Poor’s has done is look at the city’s total debt in relationship to the city’s assets and found that ratio to be extremely low,” Hogan said. “If confirms what we’ve been saying for a long time--that this city is extremely well-managed.”

The city probably will not benefit from the higher rating until its next bond offering, Hogan said. However, the upgrading from AA to AA+ will benefit bond holders, who should see an increase in the market value of their bonds, according to Hogan.