Erie County's fiscal health remains largely unchanged in the independent, conservative eyes of Wall Street.

The one exception is Fitch Ratings, which upgraded its outlook for the county from "stable" to "positive."

Otherwise, it was status quo marks from the county's credit-rating agencies, a sharp contrast to the rosy picture painted by some county leaders.

The new ratings from Fitch, Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service, announced Thursday, indicate the county is making fiscal progress but needs a longer record of success before its credit rating can be raised.

The lower a county's rating, the more its taxpayers have to pay to borrow money.

"I think we expected some improvement," said Robin Prunty, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. "We just need more of a track record."

In each case, the three rating agencies kept the county right where it was - at the lower end of their "medium-grade" investments.

The one glimmer of optimism came from Fitch, which kept the county's credit rating at BBB- but upgraded its long-term outlook from "stable" to "positive."

"I am delighted that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Erie County's outlook," said Comptroller Mark Poloncarz. "This upgrade reflects steps taken in 2005 and 2006 to restore fund balances, develop recurring revenues and engage in conservative budgeting practices."

In the end, Fitch stopped short of raising the county's overall rating and the same was true of Moody's Baa3 rating and "negative" outlook and Standard & Poor's BBB rating and "stable" outlook.

"For us, that was something we anticipated," said Kenneth Vetter, executive director of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority. "It takes five times as long to get a rating back as it does to lose it."

Analysts pointed to the newly created "hard" control board as a positive step in helping the county stabilize its long-term finances.

The ratings came out just a week after Poloncarz and County Executive Joel A. Giambra traveled to New York City to pitch the agencies on an upgrade as part of its next round of borrowing - $50 million for use on capital improvement projects.

As they made the rounds, they pointed to an anticipated $20 million-plus budget surplus this year and continued growth in the county's reserves as two signs of progress.

In the past, the agencies have taken off points for lack of reserves and for troubling budget forecasts.