Wall Street has delivered some good news to Erie County.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the county's bond rating status to "positive," a major step forward from one year ago, when three major bond-rating agencies put the county on their "watch" lists.

Fitch Ratings made the upgrade late Thursday. Officially, Fitch's now rates Erie County as BBB -- with a positive outlook.

The upgrade is significant, as it comes just a few weeks before Erie County is going to issue $50.4 million in an upcoming bond sale.

"I am delighted that Fitch's Rating has upgraded Erie County's outlook to positive," said Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz. "This reflects steps taken in 2005 and 2006 to restore fund balance, develop recurring revenues and engage in conservative budgeting practices, including not spending positive variances."

The county is on track to finish the year with a $20 million positive fund balance that comes from several factors, including fiscal belt tightening and increasing the local sales tax by one-half of a cent.

The Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority voted on Nov. 3 to change its status from an advisory role to a hard control board and immediately instituted a hiring freeze. Both actions are being negotiated between the authority and county officials, although litigation may result.

Two other Wall Street bond-rating agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's, have not upgraded the county's bond status.

Moody's rates the county at Baa3 with a negative outlook and Standard & Poor's rates the county at BBB -- a step above Moody's -- with a stable outlook.