Karanja

Charity is a member of Butler Snow’s Public Finance, Tax Incentives and Credit Markets Group and focuses her practice on public finance, economic development incentives, and government relations.

• Economic Development
• Government Relations
• Governmental Finance
• Public Finance
• Public-Private Partnerships & Public Facilities
• Tax Credits

Public Finance

Served in multiple roles on public, private, and public-private finance transactions and economic development matters, including bond counsel, underwriters' counsel, issuer's counsel, and placement agent counsel on financings for governmental entities, nonprofits, private businesses, financial institutions, educational institutions, governmental entities, and infrastructure providers in the water, sewer, and transportation sectors using multiple types of financing tools, including installment financings (direct bank placements and public market offerings), general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, bond anticipation notes, special assessment revenue bonds, tax increment bonds, USDA financings, and refundings of prior financings.

Tax Credits 

Served as counsel for federal new markets tax credit (NMTC) transactions for transformative mixed-use developments and community facilities, among others. Charity has represented a variety of entities in these transactions, including the community development entities (CDE) and the leverage lenders.

Legislation and other Experience

Prepared and drafted, or collaborated in the drafting of, various matters of legislation presented to and passed by the Mississippi Legislature, including legislation involving local and private laws, lease-purchase statutes, and cannabis statutes. Charity has also prepared tax increment financing plans, state agency regulations, revolving loan program parameters and solid waste management plans.

Relevant Experience

• Bond Counsel
  • $14,960,430 Hancock County Utility Authority, Hancock County, Mississippi Taxable Grant Anticipation Notes (Non-Revolving Line of Credit), Series 2024
  • $130,000,000 Mississippi Business Finance Corporation Taxable Revenue Bond, Series 2023 (Cane Creek Solar, LLC Project)
  • $3,500,000 Pine Belt Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, Solid Waste Revenue Bonds, Series 2023
  • $72,355,000 Mississippi Home Corporation Single Family Mortgage Revenue Bonds, Series 2022C (Non-AMT) (Social Bonds) and $15,000,000 Single Family Mortgage Revenue Bonds, Series 2022D (Federally Taxable)
  • $11,673,000 City of Greenville, Mississippi Taxable General Obligation Airport Bonds (Kearns Aerospace Project), Series 2022
  • $7,000,000 Tunica County, Mississippi Urban Renewal Revenue Bonds, Series 2022 (Infrastructure Improvement Project)
  • $5,750,000 Mississippi Development Bank Special Obligation Bonds, Series 2022 (Booneville School District Capital Improvements General Obligation Bond Project)
  • $1,135,000 Town of Como, Mississippi Taxable Water System Revenue Bond, Series 2022 (USDA Financing Project)
  • $3,024,000 Pearl River County, Mississippi Taxable (Convertible to Tax-Exempt) Limited Obligation Hospital Refunding Bonds, Series 2021
  • $2,872,000 Colony Park Public Improvement District Special Assessment Refunding Bonds, Series 2021 (Renaissance Improvement Project)
• Issuer Counsel
  • $217,165,000 Economic Development Authority of the City of Williamsburg, Virginia Student Housing Revenue Bonds (Provident Group - Williamsburg Properties LLC – William & Mary Project), Series 2023A
  • $24,960,000 Economic Development Authority of the City of Williamsburg, Virginia Dining Lease Revenue Bonds (Provident Group - Williamsburg Properties LLC – William & Mary Project), Series 2023B
• Lease Counsel
  • $72,000,000 Warren County, Mississippi Certificates of Participation (Jail Lease Purchase Project), Series 2023
  • $7,000,000 City of Picayune, Mississippi Certificates of Participation (Lease Purchase Project), Series 2023
• Tax Credits and Incentives Counsel
  • $1,500,000 New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana Qualified Low Income Community Investment Loan and $740,000 Term Loan (NOWCS NMTC Project)
  • $10,000,000 YWCA Quad Cities Title Holding Company NFP, Rock Island, Illinois Qualified Low Income Community Investment Loan (YWCA NMTC Project)
  • $35,175,197 Topgolf USA JM, LLC Tourism Tax Rebate Incentive Project (Topgolf Project, Ridgeland, Mississippi)
  • NTE $25,000,000 Harrison County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (Buc-ee’s Construction Project)
  • NTE $8,000,000 City of Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (West Pass Station Project)
  • NTE $6,500,000 City of Pascagoula, Jackson County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (Denny Avenue Shopping Center Project) and NTE $5,000,000 Tax Increment Financing Project (Ice and Freezer House Project)
  • NTE $2,500,000 Town of Seminary, Covington County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (Woolwine Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram Project)
  • NTE $2,000,000 City of Brandon, Rankin County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (Crossgates Crossing Development Project)
  • NTE $1,000,000 City of Diamondhead, Hancock County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (Diamondhead Medical Center Project)
  • NTE $1,000,000 City of Ocean Springs, Jackson County, Mississippi Tax Increment Financing Project (1515 Government Street Mixed-Use Development Project)

• Mississippi, 2021
• U.S. District Courts
• Mississippi: Northern, Southern

• University of Mississippi, J.D., magna cum laude, 2021
  • Dean’s Leadership Council
  • Business Law Fellowship
  • Phi Alpha Delta Honor Society
  • Bessie Young Scholarship
  • Dean’s Scholarship
  • Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
  • Moot Court Board
• Cornell University, B.S., Applied Economics and Management with concentrations in Accounting and Finance, cum laude, 2018
  • Dean’s List
  • Dyson Leadership Fellows Program
  • Cornell Honor Society
  • Intercultural and International Management Certificate Program
  • Research Honors Program
  • Peer Review Board
  • Student Assembly Financial Aid Review Committee

• National Bond Lawyers Association
• Mississippi Bar Association
• American Bar Association
  • Young Lawyers Division
  • Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice
  • Government & Public Sector Lawyers Division
  • Section of Public Contract Law
• National Bar Association
• Magnolia Bar Association
• Capital Area Bar Association
• Jackson Young Lawyers

• Publications
  • Co-Author, “Green Small Business Development Center: Building the Entrepreneurial Ramp from 1:1 to 360:12.” 
  • Co-Author, “Balancing Tradition and Innovation in Hotel Ezra Cornell: Incorporating Technology Initiatives.” 
• Presentations
  • Circular, “Use of American Rescue Plan Funds,” Mississippi Economic Development Council, Economic Leaders Forum, February & April 2022
  • Circular, “The Impact of Recent Federal and State Court Decisions on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice in Mississippi,” Mississippi Association of County Board Attorneys CLE, 2022 & 2023

• MacArthur Justice Clinic
• National Center for Access to Justice
• Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
• Wills for Magnolia State First Responders Clinic
• WarHorses for Heroes