Clay County, Mississippi issued $11 million of Taxable GO Bonds to finance the County’s industrial park complex in West Point, MS known as the Prairie Belt Powersite. This development was undertaken in order for the County to recruit Yokohama Tire Manufacturing, which built a $300 million commercial truck tire manufacturing plant at the site, employing approximately 650 people. The revenue source for debt service payments on the Bonds came from Ad Valorem Tax Fee In-Lieu payments from Yokohama. The plant opened in October, 2015. The taxable bonds carried a relatively high interest rate and were secured by fully funded debt service reserve funds equal to maximum annual debt service.
In 2019 Crews was able to advance refund the callable maturities of the 2013 Bonds, while eliminating the fully funded debt service reserve fund and replacing it instead with a surety bond from a nationally recognized municipal bond insurance company. By eliminating the fully funded debt service reserve fund and underwriting the Series 2019 at lower taxable interest rates, Crews was able to help the County realize significant cash flow savings.
Crews worked hard to serve our client in extraordinary ways by: