No junk rating for Collier County

The fuss over Moody's recent downgrade of Collier County's gas-tax revenue bonds should be taken in stride.

The credit-rating firm didn't exactly cast the county into “junk” status. Moody's only notched down the gas-tax revenue bonds totaling nearly $146 million of debt within the “A” investment grade, from A1 to A2, citing declines in gas taxes raised.

In fact, Collier County remains a highly rated bond issuer due to its strong and wealthy economic base, Moody's says in its most recent analysis.