Value Delivered:

Fresno County's new Juvenile Justice Center was made possible by an innovative $146 million funding plan developed by KNN Public Finance.
   
Strategic Implementation:

The County and KNN coordinated their financing efforts over the course of several years to move in lockstep with the construction bid process, providing a seamless stream of income to fund the project. Four different funding sources paved the way for the three-bid construction package, including:

• a $24.1 million grant from the California State Bureau of Corrections in May 2002
• proceeds of $75.7 million from the securitization of tobacco settlement revenues in July 2002
• proceeds of $26 million from the County's first-ever issuance of lease revenue bonds in February 2004
• $19.7 million in cash and $.5 million in interest earnings from the County coffers in July 2006

KNN helped the County maintain an aggressive financing schedule, despite a last-minute challenge to construction bids, and the County Board of Supervisors approved the sale of $26 million in Lease Revenue Bonds. The County elected to sell the bonds by way of a competitive sale, as it does for the majority of its financings, and KNN arranged a series of pre-sale calls and meetings among County officials and key institutional buyers of California municipal bonds. The result was a successful sale. A total of five underwriting syndicates submitted aggressive bids for the County's bonds, with the difference between the winning bid and the runner-up a mere 0.0115%. On February 4, 2004, Fidelity Capital Markets was awarded the Lease Revenue Bonds at an extremely low interest cost of 3.96%.Total project financing amounted to $146 million, with less than 18 percent of the entire budget regarded as long-term debt.

There is not another facility on the West Coast that equals Fresno County's Juvenile Justice Center in scope. The new Center is five times larger than the old juvenile hall and can house nearly twice as many teens. Classrooms and outdoor recreation areas abound on the rural campus and a full-day of academics are offered.

In 2007, KNN issued a follow-on $55 million lease revenue bond to fund a unique County-State shared use courthouse facility at the Juvenile Justice Center campus.