Located on the western boundary of Tennessee along the Mississippi River, the county had a 2018 population of 936,961.  The largest city in Shelby County is the city of Memphis, with a population of just over 659,000.

Shelby County registered an unemployment rate of  4.4% at the end of October, 2018.  The largest employer and taxpayer in the county is Federal Express.  The county’s 2018 median income was $48,415, which is about below 7% below the nation median for all counties.

According to  Merritt Research Services, LLC, a provider of municipal bond research and data,  the assessed valuation of  county’s tax base grew by 11.9% in 2018 over the previous year.  Moreover, it’s full valuation(total estimated market value of all taxable real estate) per capita of $71,869 stands below the national median of  $84,741 for all U.S counties.

About the Bonds

Shelby County intends to sell the bonds by competitive bid on Tuesday January 29, 2019.   The bonds are direct obligations of the County and its full-faith and credit and unlimited taxing power as to all taxable property in the County are pledged to the punctual payment of the principal and interest on the Series 2019 Bonds.

The bonds are being sold in two series.  The $170,865,000 General Obligation Public Improvement and School Bonds, 2019 Series A will be used to finance various public works projects in the County and for school purposes;  pay the principal due on the County’s outstanding GO bond anticipation note and pay the costs of issuance.  The $72,460,000 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, 2019 Series  B Bonds will be used to currently refund the County’s GO Public Improvement and School Bonds of 2009, Series B, and GO Public Improvement and School  Bonds of 2009 Series C (Federally Taxable — Build America Bonds — Direct Payment) and pay the costs of issuance.  Interested parties should consult the official statement for more specific and final details on the use of bond proceeds and any intended refundings.  All proposed financing terms are subject to change prior to the final sale of the 2019 Bonds.

According to the bond prospectus, the bonds have been rated Aa1 by Moody’s,  AA+ by S&P Global Ratings Group and AA+ by Fitch.

Both the Series A and B bonds will be issued as a combination of  serial and term bonds,  with the first principal payment beginning in 2020.

Interest on the Series 2019A  and 2019 B bonds are in  the opinion of Bond Counsel tax-exempt for federal income and from certain taxes in the state of Tennessee.

Details on the purposes, tax-status, security,  as well as other matters  and risks pertaining to these  bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement (register on the MuniOS website.  After registering, visitors can link direct to the official statement  by searching for Shelby County, Tennessee.

Statistical Snapshot of Key Shelby County Financial and Economic Indicators

Financial Snapshot of Shelby County, TN as of FYE 6/30/2018, Courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC.

The table  above (click to expand) is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the City and County of Honolulu as of 06/30/2018, compared with the 2017-2018 medians for other cities, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC.  Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database.