Summit County’s spending outpaced revenue recently, but its high credit rating appears to be unaffected.

The county was given an Aaa credit rating by Moody’s Investor Services, the highest a recreation-based county can receive, according to Summit County Auditor Blake Frazier. The rating is on par with Park City Municipal’s AA from Standard and Poor’s.

“We are still a few notches below the United States’ AA+ from Standard and Poor’s, but we are as good as we can get,” said Frazier. “It is hard to say how the trickle-down effect of the federal credit-rating downgrade will influence ours, but I don’t think it will hurt it. The county doesn’t receive very much federal money except for health services and emergency management.”

The last time the county sought a credit rating was when it took out a bond in 2009 to build the new Summit County Health building at Quinn’s Junction.

Brian Baker, a financial advisor for the county, said the county won’t be directly hurt by the federal credit rating, but the national economic instability could affect the local economy.

The county’s rating comes from its debt profile, demographics, overall economic picture, and its management, which Baker explains as their overall practices and procedures.

“The rating agency looks at the county’s fund balance and if there is any extra cushion, which they do have in their Tax Stability fund,” he said.

While the county’s rating hasn’t changed in five years, Frazier said because much of the county’s revenue is contingent on tourism with no major manufacturing income, it could “go south” tomorrow.

County Manager Bob Jasper said the council is working on improving its economic outlook by bolstering tourism on the West Side and local production, such as Summit County Beef, on the East Side.

“Bringing in the Boyer Company [the developer of the Park City Tech Center] is a good example of us expanding and diversifying our economic income,” said Jasper. “Right now, we have an excellent score, but I am nervous and want to keep our score where it is.”

Both Jasper and Frazier said they do not expect the county’s bond rating to be affected if funds are transferred from the Tax Stability Fund into the General Fund.

The county council is contemplating asking voters to approve shifting money from the Tax Stability Fund to the General Fund to make up for last year’s shortfall.