NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings assigns an 'AAA' rating to the Development Authority (the authority) of Gwinnett County (the county), Georgia's approximately $14.5 million revenue bonds (Gwinnett Recovered Materials Processing Facility Project), series 2008. The bonds are scheduled to price Sept. 10, 2008 through competitive sale. Bond proceeds will finance the construction and development of a recovered materials processing facility. Fitch also affirms the 'AAA' rating on the authority's approximately $121.6 million in outstanding parity debt. The Rating Outlook is Stable.The authority's 'AAA' rating reflects the security provided by a pledge of Gwinnett County's unconditional and absolute obligation to make contractual payments to the authority through its full faith and credit and unlimited taxing power. The county's obligation to make the contractual payments is pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement between the county and the authority. The county's high credit fundamentals include strong financial management demonstrated by consistently large fund balances, prudent management policies, good economic growth and diversity, and substantial pay-as-you-go financing of capital projects leading to a low debt burden.
The current financing will provide funds for the purpose of constructing, developing and equipping a recovered materials processing facility (the facility) needed to meet the county's expanding role in solid waste collection. Beginning Jan. 1, 2009, the county will be implementing county-wide, mandatory, residential garbage collection and increasing its recycling efforts. To that end, the authority will be financing the construction of the new facility to handle the expected increase in volume with regard to recovered materials. The proposed facility is expected to be approximately 60,000 square feet with an estimated handling capacity of 130,000 tons per year.
Although not pledged to bond repayment, debt service is expected to be paid from a residential solid waste fee imposed on residential property owners. The fee will be included on residents' property tax bills. The county expects the revenue collected from the solid waste fee to be sufficient to meet annual debt service on the current offering.
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