Two Wall Street firms have upgraded their evaluations of Allegheny County's creditworthiness, citing a streamlining of government and the new 10 percent drink tax as key reasons.

"This is good news from Wall Street," county Chief Executive Dan Onorato said, calling it an acknowledgement of "what we have been doing here for the last four years."

In announcing that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has raised the county's debt rating from A to A+, and Moody's Investors Service has changed the county's fiscal outlook from stable to positive, a combative Mr. Onorato challenged a lobby of restaurateurs and bar owners who are trying to eliminate the drink tax to take him on.

"If you know me, and you know how I govern, you also know that I know how to fight," he said.

In upgrading the county, analysts from both S&P and Moody's cited Mr. Onorato's creation of new revenue through implementation of a 10 percent drink tax and a $2-a-day tax on car rentals; his cutting of county government by 500 employees in 2004 and 200 employees in 2007; and his plan to make the county's John J. Kane Regional Centers self-supporting.

In his analysis, John Sugden-Castillo, S&P credit analyst, said the bond rating upgrade "reflects the significant improvement Allegheny County has made in eliminating its structural imbalance, as well as the county's increased fund balance position."

Analysts from Moody's said since 2004, "county management has taken steps toward regaining structurally balanced operations and strengthening the county's long-term financial position."

Mr. Onorato noted that he did it without a property tax increase, saying Allegheny is the only county in the region that has not raised its property tax rate in six years.

The county property tax rate -- 4.69 mills or $4.69 in tax on every $1,000 in value on property -- has not changed since 2002.

Mr. Onorato said Armstrong County has had a 35 percent increase in its tax rate since then; Westmoreland County, 24 percent; Washington and Butler counties, 22 percent; and Beaver County, 19 percent.

Mr. Onorato, who has been criticized by bar and restaurant owners and others for the drink tax, said he will eventually win the fight with a lobby of restaurateurs and bar owners trying to end the levy, because "people have been telling me for years not to raise the property taxes."

Yesterday's display, he said, was to start people thinking about the "untold story" in the drink tax fight.

"We're coming out swinging and we're now on the attack," he said. "I am calling on all county homeowners to let your voices be heard. Write to County Council and tell them you don't want your property taxes raised."

He once again dismissed Republican Councilman Chuck McCullough's proposal to reduce the drink tax to 5 percent by July and eliminate it in January.

"Don't let them kid you," he said. "They can't have it both ways. They can't eliminate the drink tax and not raise property taxes. I'm calling on homeowners to stand with me in this fight."

Drink tax foes have begun a legal and political drive to repeal the levy.

Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation, a nonprofit lobbying group, yesterday rolled out its campaign "Whiskey Rebellion II" with a kickoff event at the Church Brew Works in Lawrenceville.

The goal is to collect more than 50,000 signatures on a petition to put the drink tax to a referendum in November. The question will ask county voters whether they want to eliminate the drink tax.

FACT this month filed an amended complaint to its ongoing lawsuit against the drink tax, seeking to have its case certified by the court as a class action on behalf of all 1,931 county liquor license holders. Kevin Joyce, proprietor of The Carlton restaurant and a member of FACT, said Mr. Onorato is "playing politics instead of being a leader for the county."

"This county is not being efficiently run," Mr. Joyce said, adding that the group has tried repeatedly to work on finding drink tax alternatives, but has been rebuffed by Mr. Onorato.

"Dan has not engaged us," said Mr. Joyce, who claims the hospitality industry has lost up to $16 million in sales since the drink tax was implemented.

"He ignored all the evidence that this tax was going to bring in more money then he projected," Mr. Joyce added.

Yesterday, Mr. Onorato said he has "absolutely no" plans to reduce the drink tax this year.