Short-Term Financing

The Kentucky Association of Counties Leasing Trust (CoLT) was formed in 1989 for the purpose of making tax exempt financing available to counties and their political subdivisions in more cost effective ways than available in the private sector.  Those loans have ranged in amounts from $2,000 to $35,000,000 and have been used for everything from the purchase of a drug dog to the financing of a hospital.  Perhaps the greatest measure of CoLT's usefulness to KACo's members is that CoLT has made loans in 116 of our 120 counties totaling in excess of $800,000,000!  A governmental lease allows a county to borrow beyond the confines of the current fiscal year in its own name.  This arrangement does not require that the county hire and pay underwriters, financial advisers, bond counsels or trustees, thus lowering their costs.  In governmental lease financing, the county is leasing the money for the project, not the underlying asset, as one does in a traditional lease.  This allows counties to always retain title to their property. 

Due to the financial crisis that began in late 2008, resulting in limited access to letters of credit and the bond market due to high costs of issuance, CoLT has developed a new program in which CoLT has multiple partner banks with which to place a lease.  Under this new program, CoLT will originate the governmental leases from our constituencies and administer the leases during their term, with partner banks buying them for their own portfolio rather than placing the leases in a blind trust.  This arrangement will offer more options to the lease recipient in the structure of their debt, and most importantly, a somewhat lower interest rate.  Like before, leases will be offered on a variable or fixed rate basis, but without the necessity of using interest rate swaps. 

CoLT is proud to have established such an innovative program in the midst of our continuing national financial crisis.  KACo, through the CoLT program, is the first county association in the country to implement a solution to counties' borrowing needs in light of the current fiscal climate.

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