Fitch Rates Tamarac, FL's Sales Tax Revenue Bonds 'A+'

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Fitch Ratings assigns an 'A+' rating to Tamarac, Florida's (the city)
approximately $5.6 million in sales tax revenue bonds. The bonds will be
privately placed. Proceeds will be used to refund the city's outstanding series
1999 sales tax revenue bonds. Concurrently, Fitch also affirms the 'AA-' rating
on the city's $1.9 million in general obligation bonds and the 'A+' rating on
its $27.6 million capital improvement bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable.

The 'A+' rating on the sales tax bonds is based on the healthy debt service
coverage provided by pledged revenues and adequate legal provisions as well as
the general credit characteristics of the city, including strong financial
management, a limited economy, and low debt levels with modest future capital
needs. The bonds are secured by a pledge of the city's local half-cent sales tax
revenues with a secondary pledge of a covenant to budget and appropriate (CB&A)
non ad-valorem revenues in an amount sufficient to satisfy debt service.
Coverage on all bonds secured by half-cent sales tax has historically been sound
with 1.92 times (x) MADS coverage in fiscal 2008. Year-to-date revenues through
the first eight months shows a 10% decline from a year prior. If revenues end
fiscal 2009 10% down from fiscal 2008 levels, coverage would decline to a still
healthy 1.73x. Legal provisions are adequate with an additional bonds test
requiring 1.25x MADS coverage. The city has no plans to further leverage the tax
and Fitch expects coverage to remain high as the city relies on excess sales tax
revenues to support general government operations.

While the city expects to solely rely on sales tax revenues to repay the bonds,
further stability is provided by the secondary pledge of a covenant to budget
and appropriate (CB&A) non ad-valorem revenues if sales tax revenues are
insufficient to meet debt service payments. Fiscal 2008 results would have
provided 3.99x coverage of series 2009 and all outstanding bonds secured by a
CB&A pledge. Fiscal 2009 projections show coverage declining slightly to 3.29x.

Tamarac is located in northwest Broward County. Created in 1963 primarily as a
residential retiree community, the city's demographics continue to shift to a
younger population. The median age has decreased from 65 in 1990 to its current
level of 45. While the city remains primarily residential, recent economic
developments have begun to diversify the tax base with several of the city's
largest employers located in a new 500 acre business park. Unemployment has
increased to 10.8% in April 2009 from 5.4% a year prior, exceeding the state and
national levels.

Financial operations are strong and stable with over eight years of consecutive
surpluses. Audited fiscal 2008 results show a surplus of $2.6 million increasing
the unreserved fund balance to a robust 42.1% of spending. Year to date fiscal
2009 results are on budget with the city projecting a $1.6 million surplus. The
proposed fiscal 2010 budget is balanced with no use of reserves.

City overall debt levels are low at 2.9% of taxable assessed value and $1,890
per capita. Capital needs are modest with no additional general fund debt
planned in the next five years. The capital improvement plan for fiscal 2009-13
is fully funded through pay as you go sources.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on
the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and
methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of
conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance
and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of
Conduct' section of this site.

Fitch Ratings, New York
Rachel A. Barkley, 212-908-0514
Christopher Hessenthaler, 212-908-0773
or
Media Relations:
Cindy Stoller, 212-908-0526
Email: cindy.stoller@fitchratings.com

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