LIHUE, Kauai � Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. says the county has received record high credit ratings from three bond rating companies.

Carvalho says that means the interest rate for a new $120 million bond issuance will be lower than it would have been with the previous ratings.
He says that will result in an estimated savings of some $3 million in gross interest costs over the life of the bond repayment period.
According to county officials, Moody�s Investors Service announced the county received an Aa3 rating, up from A1.
In addition, they say Standard & Poor�s Rating Services raised its rating and underlying rating for Kauai from AA- to AA, while Fitch Ratings assigned an AA- rating to the county and upgraded its general obligation debt to AA- from A+.