King County sold two series of bonds this week, totaling $31.4 million, at near-zero interest rates.

Part of the bond proceeds will be used to fund relocation of Southeast District Court to the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, and for several technology improvement projects that include upgrading the county’s telephone system, migrating from a mainframe to a modern computing environment, and making improvements to the County’s wide area computing network.

King County received 13 bids to purchase the first series of tax-exempt bonds totaling $25.4 million.

The winning bid was from Fidelity Capital markets at an interest cost of 1.16 percent for bonds that mature in stages over the next 15 years.

The County also received five bids to purchase a second series of taxable Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECB) totaling $6 million.

The winning bid was submitted by BMO Capital Markets.

With these bonds, the federal government reimburses the County for nearly all of the interest costs, resulting in an interest rate of .03 percent for bonds that mature in 10 years.

The authority to issue QECB bonds stems from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The County’s net obligation for the QECB bonds is repaying the principal and ancillary issuance costs for improvements.

The bond funds will be used to replace and up-size sewage pumps at the Wastewater Treatment Division’s South Plant and to upgrade the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in the King County Correctional Facility in downtown Seattle.