Sarah Trafton reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Moody’s Investors Service raised Greene County's bond rating Aug. 6 from Aa3 to Aa2, the third highest rating for fixed-rate debt. “It’s gratifying to have Moody’s recognize Greene County’s track record of strong and effective fiscal management and our conservative nature of budgeting,” Greene County Treasurer Peter Markou said in a statement Aug. 8. “The rating upgrade didn’t happen overnight, it [has] taken years to achieve.” Greene County will sell bonds this week to partially pay for the new county jail in Coxsackie, Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden reported. “Next Wednesday we will take bids from bond buyers and they will bid rates to us.... What they want to read in this evaluation is that this county is going to pay us back, they are going to make their payments on time. This is essentially a report card,” Groden said. Greene County legislators voted for a $39-million bond last September based on an 80-bed jail proposal. Groden has been saying this year, as opposition to the jail increased, that it would be a 48-bed facility. After the jail was approved by the legislature, that changed to a 60-bed facility, the current line from Groden. Last October Greene County Legislator William Lawrence (R-Cairo), chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said, on average, Greene County residents can expect a 6.73 percent tax increase next year because of the construction. The tax increases are similar across the county with Windham residents seeing the lowest increase of 6.48 percent, and Ashland residents receiving the largest increase, of 6.91 percent. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.