T own officials’ efforts to secure Queen Creek’s water future is playing well on Wall Street.

S&P Global Ratings earlier this month gave a AA rating – its third-highest grade – to the town’s Certificates of Participation that will fund the bulk of its $244.4 million purchase of Harquahala Basin groundwater to secure Queen Creek’s water security well into the next decade.

S&P also reaffirmed its AA+ credit rating for the town’s finances overall, meaning it views Queen Creek as financially stable, well-managed, and very likely to repay its debts.

The AA rating for the certificates positions the town to buy 1.2 million acre-feet of water from western Arizona at a rate of no more than 12,000 acre-feet annually.

An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water – which the Arizona Department of

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