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PROSPECTUS

JULY 27, 2023

 

 

 

 

    CLASS A SHARES   CLASS C SHARES   CLASS F SHARES   CLASS I SHARES   CLASS Y SHARES
    TICKER SYMBOL   TICKER SYMBOL   TICKER SYMBOL   TICKER SYMBOL   TICKER SYMBOL
Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona   AZTFX   AZTCX   AZFFX     AZTYX
Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado   COTFX   COTCX   COFFX     COTYX
Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky   CHTFX   CHKCX   CHKFX   CHKIX   CHKYX
Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon   ORTFX   ORTCX   ORFFX     ORTYX
Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund   NITFX   NITCX   NIFFX   NITIX   NITYX
Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah   UTAHX   UTACX   UTAFX     UTAYX

 

 

 

 

 

To make shareholder account inquiries,
call Aquila Group of Funds at: 800-437-1000
(financial professionals, please call: 800-437-1020)
or you can write to:

Aquila Group of Funds
P.O. Box 534428
Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
www.aquilafunds.com

 
   

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities
or passed upon the adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

 
 
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T a b l e  o f  C o n t e n t s

 

 

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona  
Investment Objective 1
Fees and Expenses of the Fund 1
Principal Investment Strategies 2
Principal Risks 2
Fund Performance 5
Management 6
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares 6
Tax Information 6
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries 6
   
Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado  
Investment Objective 7
Fees and Expenses of the Fund 7
Principal Investment Strategies 8
Principal Risks 8
Fund Performance 11
Management 12
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares 12
Tax Information 12
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries 12
   
Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky  
Investment Objective 13
Fees and Expenses of the Fund 13
Principal Investment Strategies 14
Principal Risks 14
Fund Performance 17
Management 18
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares 18
Tax Information 18
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries 18
   
Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon  
Investment Objective 19
Fees and Expenses of the Fund 19
Principal Investment Strategies 20
Principal Risks 20
Fund Performance 23
Management 24
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares 24
Tax Information 24
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries 24

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund  
Investment Objective 25
Fees and Expenses of the Fund 25
Principal Investment Strategies 26
Principal Risks 26
Fund Performance 29
Management 30
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares 30
Tax Information 30
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries 30
   
Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah  
Investment Objective 31
Fees and Expenses of the Fund 31
Principal Investment Strategies 32
Principal Risks 32
Fund Performance 35
Management 36
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares 36
Tax Information 36
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries 36
   
Additional Information About the Funds’ Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks 37
Fund Management 47
Net Asset Value per Share 51
Purchases 52
Redeeming an Investment 56
Alternative Purchase Plans 59
Dividends and Distributions 66
Tax Information 67
Financial Highlights 73
Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies 98

 

 

 

 

 
 
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AQUILA TAX-FREE TRUST OF ARIZONA

 

FUND SUMMARY

 

Investment Objective

 

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Arizona state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other funds in the Aquila Group of Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Alternative Purchase Plans” on page 59 of the Fund’s Prospectus, “Sales Charges - Class A Shares” on page 61 of the Prospectus, “Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies” on page 98 of the Prospectus, and “Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares” on page 56 of the Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.

 

  Class A
Shares
Class C
Shares
Class F
Shares
Class Y
Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)        
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00% None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price)
None(1) 1.00% None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment)
       
Management Fee 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.15% 1.00% None None
Other Expenses 0.19% 0.19% 0.17% 0.19%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.74% 1.59% 0.57% 0.59%

 

(1)   Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during 13 to 18 months after purchase.

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A Shares $373 $529 $699 $1,191
Class C Shares $262 $502 $866 $1,451
Class F Shares $58 $183 $318 $714
Class Y Shares $60 $189 $329 $738

 

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:

 

Class C Shares $162 $502 $866 $1,451

 

 

1 | Aquila Municipal Trust

 

 

 

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Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 32% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Arizona state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. In general, almost all of these obligations are issued by the State of Arizona, its counties and various other local authorities; these obligations may also include certain other governmental issuers. We call these “Arizona Obligations.” These securities may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. Some Arizona Obligations, such as general obligation issues, are backed by the issuer’s taxing authority, while other Arizona Obligations, such as revenue bonds, are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Fund’s weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

 

At the time of purchase, the Fund’s Arizona Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either

 

· be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or,
· if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s Manager, Aquila Investment Management LLC.

 

The Manager selects obligations for the Fund’s portfolio in order to achieve the Fund’s objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.

 

Principal Risks

 

You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

 

 

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Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Fund invests.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. The Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Fund’s fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain interest rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Fund. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Fund could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Arizona and Other Municipal Obligations. The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Arizona and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest. The strength of the Arizona economy will be affected by, among other factors, the strength of the national and global economies, federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain. Provisions of Arizona’s Constitution that limit the amount of debt that can be issued may impair the ability of Arizona issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. Over the years, a number of laws have been enacted, often through voter initiatives, which have increased the difficulty of raising State taxes, imposed certain mandatory expenditures by the State, or otherwise limited the Legislature and the Governor’s discretion in enacting budgets. Drought conditions that threaten water supplies for Arizona and the entire Southwest may affect Arizona’s water and power infrastructure and the financial condition of Arizona public water and electric power utilities. Arizona is one of the states in the nation most vulnerable to Federal government expenditure changes because of the large proportion of military spending in the state’s economy. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities,

 

 

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potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of municipal securities also can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

Tax Risk. The income on the Fund’s Arizona Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Manager’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The Fund’s ability to value its investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Fund’s Manager, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Fund or their investment in the Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Fund may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.

These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.

 

 

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Fund Performance

 

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the designated periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. No performance information is presented for Class F Shares because Class F Shares do not have annual returns for at least one calendar year. The returns for Class F Shares would differ from the returns shown because Class F Shares have different expenses. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.aquilafunds.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS - As of December 31
Class Y Shares - 2013-2022

Calendar Years

 

 

During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 3.46% (quarter ended December 31, 2022) and the lowest return for a quarter was -5.50% (quarter ended March 31, 2022).

 

The year-to-date (from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023) total return for Class Y Shares was 1.66%.

 

 

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Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022

  Average Annual Total Returns for
the Periods Ended December 31, 2022
  1 Year 5 years 10 years
Class Returns Before Taxes:      
Class A -10.42% -0.18% 1.22%
Class C -9.28% -0.20% 0.77%
Class Y -7.44% 0.80% 1.79%
Class Y Returns After Taxes:      
On Distributions -7.44% 0.78% 1.76%
On Distributions and Redemption -3.46% 1.22% 2.06%
Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* -5.15% 1.36% 1.77%
(This index of municipal bonds of issuers throughout the U.S. is unmanaged and does not reflect deductions for fund operating expenses, taxes or sales charges.)      

 

* Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg’s licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Fund may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Returns after taxes on distributions and redemption of Fund shares are higher than returns before taxes for periods shown because they reflect the tax benefit of capital losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser – Aquila Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”)

 

Portfolio Managers – Mr. Anthony Tanner, Vice President and lead portfolio manager of the Fund, is based in Phoenix, AZ, and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018. Mr. James Thompson, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017. Mr. Royden Durham, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017. Effective August 1, 2023, Mr. Timothy Iltz, a portfolio manager of the Manager and Vice President of the Fund, will become a portfolio manager of the Fund. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business.

Transactions in Class A Shares or Class C Shares may be made either through a financial intermediary or, for accounts held directly with the Fund, you may contact the Fund in writing or by telephone:

· U.S. Postal Service Mail: Aquila Group of Funds, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
· Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Aquila Group of Funds, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262
· The Fund’s telephone number is 800-437-1000

The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.

Transactions in Class F Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.

Tax Information

 

The Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Arizona state income tax. Portions of the Fund’s distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund and Aquila Distributors LLC (the “Distributor”) or the Manager may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

 

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AQUILA TAX-FREE FUND OF COLORADO

 

FUND SUMMARY

 

Investment Objective

 

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Colorado state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other funds in the Aquila Group of Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Alternative Purchase Plans” on page 59 of the Fund’s Prospectus, “Sales Charges - Class A Shares” on page 61 of the Prospectus, “Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies” on page 98 of the Prospectus, and “Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares” on page 56 of the Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.

 

  Class A
Shares
Class C
Shares
Class F
Shares
Class Y
Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)        
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00% None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price)
None(1) 1.00% None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment)
       
Management Fee 0.50% 0.50% 0.50% 0.50%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.075% 1.00% None None
Other Expenses 0.19% 0.19% 0.15% 0.19%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.765% 1.69% 0.65% 0.69%
Total Fee Waivers(2) -0.02% -0.02% -0.02% -0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers(2) 0.745% 1.67% 0.63% 0.67%

 

(1)   Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during 13 to 18 months after purchase.
(2)   The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.48 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.46 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.44 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. Prior to September 30, 2024, the Manager may not terminate the arrangement without the approval of the Board of Trustees.

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same except for year one (which considers the effect of the expense limitation). Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A Shares $374 $535 $710 $1,218
Class C Shares $270 $531 $916 $1,523
Class F Shares $64 $206 $360 $809
Class Y Shares $68 $219 $382 $857

 

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:

 

Class C Shares $170 $531 $916 $1,523

 

 

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Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 12% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Colorado state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. In general, almost all of these obligations are issued by the State of Colorado, its counties and various other local authorities; these obligations may also include certain other governmental issuers. We call these “Colorado Obligations.” These securities may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. A significant portion of the Colorado Obligations in which the Fund invests consist of revenue bonds, which are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Fund’s weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

 

At the time of purchase, the Fund’s Colorado Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either

 

· be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or,
· if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s Manager, Aquila Investment Management LLC.

The Manager selects obligations for the Fund’s portfolio in order to achieve the Fund’s objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.

 

Principal Risks

 

You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

 

 

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Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Fund invests.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. The Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Fund’s fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain interest rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Fund. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Fund could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Colorado and Other Municipal Obligations. The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Colorado and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest. The strength of the Colorado economy will be affected by, among other factors, the health of the Colorado labor market, personal income growth, and the residential real estate market, federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain. Colorado’s major economic sectors include agriculture, manufacturing, technology, tourism, energy production, and mining. Declines in oil and gas production could have an impact on employment and income growth in Colorado. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) is a constitutional provision that limits increases in spending, as well as the amount of revenue that can be raised, by state and local governments in Colorado in each fiscal year. Revenues in excess of those permitted under TABOR must be refunded to taxpayers. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA) has significant unfunded pension liabilities. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities, potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and

 

 

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interest payments. The value of municipal securities also can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

Tax Risk. The income on the Fund’s Colorado Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Manager’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The Fund’s ability to value its investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Fund’s Manager, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Fund or their investment in the Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Fund may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.

These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.

 

 

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Fund Performance

 

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the designated periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. No performance information is presented for Class F Shares because Class F Shares do not have annual returns for at least one calendar year. The returns for Class F Shares would differ from the returns shown because Class F Shares have different expenses. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.aquilafunds.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).

 

The Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of Tax-Free Fund of Colorado (the “Predecessor Fund”) on October 11, 2013. As a result of the reorganization, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Predecessor Fund. Performance shown for periods prior to October 11, 2013 is the performance of the Predecessor Fund.

 

Until March 5, 2023, Davidson Fixed Income Management Inc. doing business in Colorado as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management served as the sub-adviser of the Fund. Effective March 6, 2023, the Manager became directly responsible for portfolio management decisions for the Fund.

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS - As of December 31
Class Y Shares - 2013-2022

Calendar Years

 

 

During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 3.15% (quarter ended December 31, 2022) and the lowest return for a quarter was -5.28% (quarter ended March 31, 2022).

 

The year-to-date (from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023) total return for Class Y Shares was 0.95%.

 

 

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Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022

  Average Annual Total Returns for
the Periods Ended December 31, 2022
  1 Year 5 years 10 years
Class Returns Before Taxes:      
Class A -8.96% -0.35% 0.88%
Class C -8.04% -0.50% 0.32%
Class Y -6.14% 0.51% 1.33%
Class Y Returns After Taxes:      
On Distributions -6.14% 0.50% 1.32%
On Distributions and Redemption -2.94% 0.86% 1.58%
Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* -5.15% 1.36% 1.77%
(This index of municipal bonds of issuers throughout the U.S. is unmanaged and does not reflect deductions for fund operating expenses, taxes or sales charges.)      

 

* Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg’s licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

 

 After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Fund may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Returns after taxes on distributions and redemption of Fund shares are higher than returns before taxes for periods shown because they reflect the tax benefit of capital losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser – Aquila Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”)

 

Portfolio Managers – Mr. Royden Durham, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since March 6, 2023. Mr. Vasilios Gerasopoulos, an associate portfolio manager of the Manager and Assistant Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since March 6, 2023. Mr. Timothy Iltz, a portfolio manager of the Manager and Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since December 19, 2022.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business.

Transactions in Class A Shares or Class C Shares may be made either through a financial intermediary or, for accounts held directly with the Fund, you may contact the Fund in writing or by telephone:

· U.S. Postal Service Mail: Aquila Group of Funds, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
· Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Aquila Group of Funds, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262
· The Fund’s telephone number is 800-437-1000

The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.

Transactions in Class F Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.

Tax Information

 

The Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Colorado state income tax. Portions of the Fund’s distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund and Aquila Distributors LLC (the “Distributor”) or the Manager may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

 

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AQUILA CHURCHILL TAX-FREE FUND OF KENTUCKY

 

FUND SUMMARY

 

Investment Objective

 

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Kentucky state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other funds in the Aquila Group of Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Alternative Purchase Plans” on page 59 of the Fund’s Prospectus, “Sales Charges - Class A Shares” on page 61 of the Prospectus, “Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies” on page 98 of the Prospectus, and “Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares” on page 56 of the Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.

 

  Class A
Shares
Class C
Shares
Class F
Shares
Class I
Shares
Class Y
Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)          
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00% None None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price)
None(1) 1.00% None None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment)
         
Management Fee 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.15% 1.00% None 0.40% None
Other Expenses 0.21% 0.21% 0.18% 0.16% 0.21%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.76% 1.61% 0.58% 0.96% 0.61%

 

(1)   Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during 13 to 18 months after purchase.

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A Shares $375 $536 $710 $1,214
Class C Shares $264 $508 $876 $1,473
Class F Shares $59 $186 $324 $726
Class I Shares $98 $306 $531 $1,178
Class Y Shares $62 $195 $340 $762

 

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:

 

Class C Shares $164 $508 $876 $1,473

 

 

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Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 10% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Kentucky income and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. In general, almost all of these obligations are issued by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, its counties and various other local authorities; these obligations may also include certain other governmental issuers. We call these “Kentucky Obligations.” These securities may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. A significant portion of the Kentucky Obligations in which the Fund invests consist of revenue bonds, which are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Fund’s weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

 

At the time of purchase, the Fund’s Kentucky Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either

 

· be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or,
· if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s Manager, Aquila Investment Management LLC.

 

The Manager selects obligations for the Fund’s portfolio in order to achieve the Fund’s objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.

 

Principal Risks

 

You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

 

 

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Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Fund invests.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. The Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Fund’s fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain interest rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Fund. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Fund could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Kentucky and Other Municipal Obligations. The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Kentucky and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest. The strength of the Kentucky economy will be affected by, among other factors, employment growth and energy production, including the market for Kentucky coal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain. The market for Kentucky coal and losses in mining-related jobs continue to be areas of concern. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. Kentucky has significant long-term liabilities. In particular, Kentucky’s retirement systems are significantly underfunded. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities, potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of municipal securities also can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or

 

 

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similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

Tax Risk. The income on the Fund’s Kentucky Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Manager’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The Fund’s ability to value its investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Fund’s Manager, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Fund or their investment in the Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Fund may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.

These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.

 

 

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Fund Performance

 

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the designated periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. No performance information is presented for Class F Shares because Class F Shares do not have annual returns for at least one calendar year. The returns for Class F Shares would differ from the returns shown because Class F Shares have different expenses. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.aquilafunds.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).

 

The Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky (the “Predecessor Fund”) on October 11, 2013. As a result of the reorganization, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Predecessor Fund. Performance shown for periods prior to October 11, 2013, is the performance of the Predecessor Fund.

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS - As of December 31
Class Y Shares - 2013-2022

Calendar Years

 

 

During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 3.50% (quarter ended December 31, 2022) and the lowest return for a quarter was -4.92% (quarter ended March 31, 2022).

 

The year-to-date (from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023) total return for Class Y Shares was 1.34%.

 

 

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Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022

  Average Annual Total Returns for
the Periods Ended December 31, 2022
  1 Year 5 years 10 years
Class Returns Before Taxes:      
Class A -9.69% -0.05% 1.05%
Class C -8.56% -0.07% 0.61%
Class I -6.91% 0.64% 1.31%
Class Y -6.63% 0.94% 1.62%
Class Y Returns After Taxes:      
On Distributions -6.63% 0.92% 1.60%
On Distributions and Redemption -3.00% 1.28% 1.87%
Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* -5.15% 1.36% 1.77%
(This index of municipal bonds of issuers throughout the U.S. is unmanaged and does not reflect deductions for fund operating expenses, taxes or sales charges.)      

 

* Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg’s licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Fund may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Returns after taxes on distributions and redemption of Fund shares are higher than returns before taxes for periods shown because they reflect the tax benefit of capital losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser – Aquila Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”)

 

Portfolio Managers – Mr. Royden Durham, Vice President and lead portfolio manager of the Fund, is based in Louisville, KY, and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2011. Mr. Anthony Tanner, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018. Mr. James Thompson, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business.

Transactions in Class A Shares or Class C Shares may be made either through a financial intermediary or, for accounts held directly with the Fund, you may contact the Fund in writing or by telephone:

· U.S. Postal Service Mail: Aquila Group of Funds, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
· Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Aquila Group of Funds, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262
· The Fund’s telephone number is 800-437-1000

The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.

Transactions in Class F Shares, Class I Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.

Tax Information

 

The Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Kentucky income tax. Portions of the Fund’s distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund and Aquila Distributors LLC (the “Distributor”) or the Manager may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AQUILA TAX-FREE TRUST OF OREGON

 

FUND SUMMARY

 

Investment Objective

 

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Oregon state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other funds in the Aquila Group of Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Alternative Purchase Plans” on page 59 of the Fund’s Prospectus, “Sales Charges - Class A Shares” on page 61 of the Prospectus, “Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies” on page 98 of the Prospectus, and “Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares” on page 56 of the Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.

 

  Class A
Shares
Class C
Shares
Class F
Shares
Class Y
Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)        
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00% None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price)
None(1) 1.00% None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment)
       
Management Fee 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.15% 1.00% None None
Other Expenses 0.16% 0.16% 0.13% 0.16%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.71% 1.56% 0.53% 0.56%
Total Fee Waivers and/or Reimbursement (2) -0.01% -0.01% -0.01% -0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Fee Waivers and Reimbursements (2) 0.70% 1.55% 0.52% 0.55%

 

(1)   Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during 13 to 18 months after purchase.
(2)   The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.40 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.38 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.36 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. Prior to September 30, 2024, the Manager may not terminate the arrangement without the approval of the Board of Trustees.

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same except for year one (which considers the effect of the expense limitation). Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A Shares $369 $519 $682 $1,155
Class C Shares $258 $492 $849 $1,416
Class F Shares $53 $169 $295 $664
Class Y Shares $56 $178 $312 $700

 

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:

 

Class C Shares $158 $492 $849 $1,416

 

 

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Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 12% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Oregon state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. In general, almost all of these obligations are issued by the State of Oregon, its counties and various other local authorities; these obligations may also include certain other governmental issuers. We call these “Oregon Obligations.” These securities may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. Some Oregon Obligations, such as general obligation issues, are backed by the issuer’s taxing authority, while other Oregon Obligations, such as revenue bonds, are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Fund’s weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

 

At the time of purchase, the Fund’s Oregon Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either

· be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or,
· if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s Manager, Aquila Investment Management LLC.

The Manager selects obligations for the Fund’s portfolio in order to achieve the Fund’s objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.

Principal Risks

 

You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

 

 

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Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Fund invests.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. The Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Fund’s fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain interest rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Fund. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Fund could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Oregon and Other Municipal Obligations. The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Oregon and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. The strength of the Oregon economy will be affected by, among other factors, the strength of the national and global economies, federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain. The strength of residential construction is important to the Oregon economy due to wood products production. Oregon’s debt levels are high in relation to its economic base. The state is highly vulnerable to budgetary strain due to its high reliance on volatile income taxes. Oregon has had a relatively high unemployment rate in recent years. Oregon is subject to periodic earthquakes and has also experienced significant wildfire events during the past several years. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities, potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of municipal securities also can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions,

 

 

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and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

Tax Risk. The income on the Fund’s Oregon Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Manager’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The Fund’s ability to value its investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Fund’s Manager, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Fund or their investment in the Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Fund may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.

These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.

 

 

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Fund Performance

 

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the designated periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.aquilafunds.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).

 

The Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon (the Predecessor Fund) on June 26, 2020. As a result of the reorganization, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Predecessor Fund. Performance shown for periods prior to June 26, 2020, is the performance of the Predecessor Fund.

 

Until March 5, 2023, Davidson Fixed Income Management Inc. doing business in Colorado as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management served as the sub-adviser of the Fund. Effective March 6, 2023, the Manager became directly responsible for portfolio management decisions for the Fund.

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS – As of December 31
Class Y Shares – 2013-2022

Calendar Years

 

 

During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 3.47% (quarter ended December 31, 2022) and the lowest return for a quarter was -5.35% (quarter ended March 31, 2022).

 

The year-to-date (from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023) total return for Class Y Shares was 1.00%.

 

 

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Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022

  Average Annual Total Returns for
the Periods Ended December 31, 2022
  1 Year 5 years 10 years Since
Inception
Class Returns Before Taxes:        
Class A -9.21% -0.30% 0.81%  
Class C -8.09% -0.33% 0.36%  
Class F -6.04% N/A N/A 0.92%(1)
Class Y -6.14% 0.69% 1.38%  
Class Y Returns After Taxes:        
On Distributions -6.14% 0.68% 1.38%  
On Distributions and Redemption -2.93% 1.00% 1.62%  
Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* -5.15% 1.36% 1.77% 1.56%(1)
(This index of municipal bonds of issuers throughout the U.S. is unmanaged and does not reflect deductions for fund operating expenses, taxes or sales charges.)        

 

* Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg’s licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

 

(1)    Inception date  - November 30, 2018

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Fund may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Returns after taxes on distributions and redemption of Fund shares are higher than returns before taxes for periods shown because they reflect the tax benefit of capital losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser – Aquila Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”)

 

Portfolio Managers – Mr. Timothy Iltz, a portfolio manager of the Manager and Vice President of the Fund, is the Fund’s lead portfolio manager. He has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2018. Mr. Anthony Tanner, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since March 6, 2023. Mr. James Thompson, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since March 6, 2023. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business.

Transactions in Class A Shares or Class C Shares may be made either through a financial intermediary or, for accounts held directly with the Fund, you may contact the Fund in writing or by telephone:

· U.S. Postal Service Mail: Aquila Group of Funds, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
· Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Aquila Group of Funds, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262
· The Fund’s telephone number is 800-437-1000

The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.

Transactions in Class F Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.

Tax Information

 

The Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Oregon state personal income tax. Portions of the Fund’s distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund and Aquila Distributors LLC (the “Distributor”) or the Manager may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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AQUILA NARRAGANSETT TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

 

FUND SUMMARY

 

Investment Objective

 

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Rhode Island state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other funds in the Aquila Group of Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Alternative Purchase Plans” on page 59 of the Fund’s Prospectus, “Sales Charges - Class A Shares” on page 61 of the Prospectus, “Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies” on page 98 of the Prospectus, and “Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares” on page 56 of the Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.

 

  Class A
Shares
Class C
Shares
Class F
Shares
Class I
Shares
Class Y
Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)          
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00% None None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price)
None(1) 1.00% None None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment)
         
Management Fee 0.50% 0.50% 0.50% 0.50% 0.50%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.15% 1.00% None 0.40% None
Other Expenses 0.23% 0.23% 0.20% 0.16% 0.23%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.88% 1.73% 0.70% 1.06% 0.73%
Total Fee Waivers (2) -0.02% -0.02% -0.02% -0.02% -0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers(2) 0.86% 1.71% 0.68% 1.04% 0.71%

 

(1)   Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during the second year after purchase.
(2)   The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.48 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.46 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.44 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. Prior to September 30, 2024, the Manager may not terminate the arrangement without the approval of the Board of Trustees.

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same except for year one (which considers the effect of the expense limitation). Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A Shares $385 $570 $771 $1,350
Class C Shares $274 $543 $937 $1,607
Class F Shares $69 $222 $388    $869
Class I Shares $106 $335 $583 $1,292
Class Y Shares $73 $231 $404    $905

 

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:

 

Class C Shares $174 $543 $937 $1,607

 

 

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Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 3% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Rhode Island state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. In general, all or almost all of these obligations are issued by the State of Rhode Island, its counties and various other local authorities; these obligations may also include certain other governmental issuers. We call these “Rhode Island Obligations.” These securities may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. Some Rhode Island Obligations, such as general obligation issues, are backed by the issuer’s taxing authority, while other Rhode Island Obligations, such as revenue bonds, are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Fund’s weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

 

At the time of purchase, the Fund’s Rhode Island Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either

 

· be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or,
· if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s Sub-Adviser, Clarfeld Financial Advisors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citizens Bank, N.A. (the “Sub-Adviser”).

 

The Sub-Adviser selects obligations for the Fund’s portfolio in order to achieve the Fund’s objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.

 

Principal Risks

 

You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global

 

 

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economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Fund invests.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. The Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Fund’s fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain interest rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Fund. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Fund could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Rhode Island and Other Municipal Obligations. The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Rhode Island and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. A number of municipalities in Rhode Island have experienced financial difficulties. The strength of the Rhode Island economy also will be affected by federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain. Rhode Island’s retirement systems are underfunded. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities, potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of municipal securities also can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

Tax Risk. The income on the Fund’s Rhode Island Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation

 

 

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or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Sub-Adviser’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The Fund’s ability to value its investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Fund’s Manager, Sub-Adviser, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Fund or their investment in the Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Fund may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in Citizens Bank, N.A., any of its bank or non-bank affiliates or any other bank, and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.

 

 

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Fund Performance

 

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the designated periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.aquilafunds.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).

 

The Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund (the “Predecessor Fund”) on October 11, 2013. As a result of the reorganization, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Predecessor Fund. Performance shown for periods prior to October 11, 2013 is the performance of the Predecessor Fund.

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS - As of December 31
Class Y Shares - 2013-2022

Calendar Years

 

 

During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 3.82% (quarter ended March 31, 2014) and the lowest return for a quarter was -5.27% (quarter ended March 31, 2022).

 

The year-to-date (from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023) total return for Class Y Shares was 1.48%.

 

 

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Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022

  Average Annual Total Returns for
the Periods Ended December 31, 2022
  1 Year 5 years 10 years Since
Inception
Class Returns Before Taxes:        
Class A -10.08% -0.14% 1.26%  
Class C -8.99% -0.17% 0.81%  
Class F -7.23% N/A N/A 1.00%(1)
Class I -7.51% 0.58% 1.53%  
Class Y -7.16% 0.84% 1.82%  
Class Y Returns After Taxes:        
On Distributions -7.16% 0.83% 1.82%  
On Distributions and Redemption -3.44% 1.19% 2.02%  
Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* -5.15% 1.36% 1.77% 1.56%(1)
(This index of municipal bonds of issuers throughout the U.S. is unmanaged and does not reflect deductions for fund operating expenses, taxes or sales charges.)        

 

* Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg’s licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

 

(1)    Inception date  - November 30, 2018

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Fund may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Returns after taxes on distributions and redemption of Fund shares are higher than returns before taxes for periods shown because they reflect the tax benefit of capital losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser – Aquila Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”)

 

Sub-Adviser – Clarfeld Financial Advisors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citizens Bank, N.A.

 

Portfolio Manager – Jeffrey K. Hanna, a Senior Vice President of the Sub-Adviser, has served as the portfolio manager or co-portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2005, and was an assistant portfolio manager of the Predecessor Fund from 2000 to 2005.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business.

Transactions in Class A Shares or Class C Shares may be made either through a financial intermediary or, for accounts held directly with the Fund, you may contact the Fund in writing or by telephone:

· U.S. Postal Service Mail: Aquila Group of Funds, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
· Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Aquila Group of Funds, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262
· The Fund’s telephone number is 800-437-1000

The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.

Transactions in Class F Shares, Class I Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.

Tax Information

 

The Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Rhode Island state income tax. Portions of the Fund’s distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund and Aquila Distributors LLC (the “Distributor”) or the Manager may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

 

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AQUILA TAX-FREE FUND FOR UTAH

 

FUND SUMMARY

 

Investment Objective

 

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Utah state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other funds in the Aquila Group of Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Alternative Purchase Plans” on page 59 of the Fund’s Prospectus, “Sales Charges - Class A Shares” on page 61 of the Prospectus, “Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies” on page 98 of the Prospectus, and “Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares” on page 56 of the Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.

 

  Class A
Shares
Class C
Shares
Class F
Shares
Class Y
Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)        
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00% None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price)
None(1) 1.00% None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment)
       
Management Fee 0.50% 0.50% 0.50% 0.50%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.20% 1.00% None None
Other Expenses 0.19% 0.19% 0.16% 0.19%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.89% 1.69% 0.66% 0.69%
Total Fee Waivers and/or Reimbursement (2) -0.02% -0.02% -0.02% -0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers(2) 0.87% 1.67% 0.64% 0.67%

 

(1)    Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during 13 to 18 months after purchase.
(2)    The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.48 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.46 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.44 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. Prior to September 30, 2024, the Manager may not terminate the arrangement without the approval of the Board of Trustees.

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

 

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same except for year one (which considers the effect of the expense limitation). Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A Shares $386 $573 $776 $1,361
Class C Shares $270 $531 $916 $1,588
Class F Shares $65 $209 $366 $821
Class Y Shares $68 $219 $382 $857

 

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:

 

Class C Shares $170 $531 $916 $1,588

 

 

 

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Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 12% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Utah state individual and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. These obligations are issued by the State of Utah, its counties and various other local authorities, certain other governmental issuers, and by other states and entities that do not tax interest from obligations issued by the State of Utah. These obligations also include obligations issued by other states, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and, pursuant to Utah statutory authority, from Utah individual (but not corporate) income taxes. We call these obligations “Utah Double-Exempt Obligations.” Under normal circumstances, at least 50% of the Fund’s assets will consist of obligations of Utah-based issuers. Utah Double-Exempt Obligations may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. Some Utah Double-Exempt Obligations, such as general obligation issues, are backed by the issuer’s taxing authority, while other Utah Double-Exempt Obligations, such as revenue bonds, are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Fund’s weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

 

At the time of purchase, the Fund’s Utah Double-Exempt Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either

 

· be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or,
· if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s Manager, Aquila Investment Management LLC.

 

The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in unrated securities, including those issued in private placement transactions. From time to time, the Fund may hold a significant percentage, or all, of the outstanding private placement bonds issued by certain issuers.

 

The Manager selects obligations for the Fund’s portfolio in order to achieve the Fund’s objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.

 

Principal Risks

 

You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Fund.

 

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments,

 

 

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impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Fund invests.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. The Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Fund’s fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain interest rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Fund. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Fund defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Fund could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Utah and Other Municipal Obligations. The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Utah and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest. Provisions of Utah’s Constitution and state statutes that limit the borrowing, taxing and spending authority of Utah’s governmental entities may impair the ability of Utah issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. Utah households pay more in state and local taxes per household than the national average. The current relatively high level of taxation could adversely affect the ability of Utah issuers to raise taxes substantially or at all. The strength of the Utah economy also will be affected by federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities, potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of municipal securities also

 

 

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can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

Tax Risk. The income on the Fund’s Utah Double-Exempt Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.

Unrated Security Risk. When the Fund purchases unrated securities, it will depend on the Manager’s analysis of credit risk without the assessment of a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. Unrated securities may be less liquid than rated securities determined to be of comparable quality.

Liquidity Risk. The Fund may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase, including investments in securities issued in private placement transactions. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Fund is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Fund may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Fund may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Manager’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The Fund’s ability to value its investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. The Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Fund’s Manager, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Fund or their investment in the Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Fund may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.

These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.

 

 

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Fund Performance

 

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the designated periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.aquilafunds.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).

 

The Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of Tax-Free Fund For Utah (the “Predecessor Fund”) on October 11, 2013. As a result of the reorganization, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Predecessor Fund. Performance shown for periods prior to October 11, 2013 is the performance of the Predecessor Fund.

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS - As of December 31
Class Y Shares - 2013-2022

Calendar Years

 

 

During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 3.57% (quarter ended December 31, 2022) and the lowest return for a quarter was -5.65% (quarter ended March 31, 2022).

 

The year-to-date (from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023) total return for Class Y Shares was 1.28%.

 

 

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Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2022

  Average Annual Total Returns for
the Periods Ended December 31, 2022
  1 Year 5 years 10 years Since
Inception
Class Returns Before Taxes:        
Class A -10.25% -0.20% 1.33%  
Class C -9.11% -0.17% 0.94%  
Class F -7.02% N/A N/A 1.16%(1)
Class Y -7.25% 0.80% 1.95%  
Class Y Returns After Taxes:        
On Distributions -7.25% 0.79% 1.93%  
On Distributions and Redemption -3.43% 1.18% 2.13%  
Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* -5.15% 1.36% 1.77% 1.56%(1)
(This index of municipal bonds of issuers throughout the U.S. is unmanaged and does not reflect deductions for fund operating expenses, taxes or sales charges.)        

 

* Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively “Bloomberg”). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg’s licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.

 

(1)    Inception date  - November 30, 2018

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Fund may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Returns after taxes on distributions and redemption of Fund shares are higher than returns before taxes for periods shown because they reflect the tax benefit of capital losses realized on the sale of Fund shares. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.

 

Management

Investment Adviser – Aquila Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”)

Portfolio Managers – Mr. James Thompson, Vice President and lead portfolio manager of the Fund, is based in Bountiful, UT, and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2009. Mr. Royden Durham, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017. Mr. Anthony Tanner, Vice President of the Fund, has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018. Effective August 1, 2023, Mr. Timothy Iltz, a portfolio manager of the Manager and Vice President of the Fund, will become a portfolio manager of the Fund. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business.

Transactions in Class A Shares or Class C Shares may be made either through a financial intermediary or, for accounts held directly with the Fund, you may contact the Fund in writing or by telephone:

· U.S. Postal Service Mail: Aquila Group of Funds, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428
· Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Aquila Group of Funds, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262
· The Fund’s telephone number is 800-437-1000

The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.

Transactions in Class F Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.

Tax Information

The Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Utah state income tax. Portions of the Fund’s distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund and Aquila Distributors LLC (the “Distributor”) or the Manager may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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Additional Information About the Funds’ Principal
Investment Strategies and Principal Risks

Additional Information About the Funds’ Principal Investment Strategies

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Arizona state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona invests primarily in Arizona Obligations, which are a type of municipal obligation. Arizona Obligations are obligations of the State of Arizona and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities and of certain other governmental issuers, of any maturity, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and Arizona state income tax. The Fund purchases the obligations of governmental issuers other than Arizona governmental issuers only when obligations of the State of Arizona and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities with the appropriate characteristics of quality, maturity and coupon rate are unavailable.

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Arizona state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. This 80% policy may not be changed without shareholder approval. Except for this policy and the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or in the Statement of Additional Information.

The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act, which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Colorado state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado invests primarily in Colorado Obligations, which are a type of municipal obligation. Colorado Obligations are obligations of the State of Colorado and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities and of certain other governmental issuers, of any maturity, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and Colorado state income tax.

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Colorado state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. This 80% policy may not be changed without shareholder approval. Except for this policy and the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or in the Statement of Additional Information.

Because of limitations contained in the state constitution, the State of Colorado issues no general obligation bonds secured by the full faith and credit of the state. Several agencies and instrumentalities of state government are authorized by statute to issue bonds secured by revenues from specific projects and activities. Accordingly, a significant portion of the Colorado Obligations in which Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado invests is comprised of revenue bonds (see “Municipal Obligations” below). Additionally, the state currently is authorized to issue short-term revenue anticipation notes.

The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act, which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Kentucky state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky invests primarily in Kentucky Obligations, which are a type of municipal obligation. Kentucky Obligations are obligations of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities and of certain other governmental issuers, of any maturity, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and Kentucky income tax.

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Kentucky income and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. This 80% policy may not be changed without shareholder approval. Except for this policy and the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or in the Statement of Additional Information.

 

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Historically, most Kentucky state and local government indebtedness has been issued in the form of revenue bonds (see “Municipal Obligations” below). Accordingly, a significant portion of the Kentucky Obligations in which Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky invests is comprised of revenue bonds.

The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act, which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Oregon state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon invests primarily in Oregon Obligations, which are a type of municipal obligation. Oregon Obligations are obligations of the State of Oregon and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities and of certain other governmental issuers, of any maturity, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and Oregon personal income tax. The Fund purchases the obligations of governmental issuers other than Oregon governmental issuers only when obligations of the State of Oregon and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities with the appropriate characteristics of quality, maturity and coupon rate are unavailable.

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Oregon state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. This 80% policy may not be changed without shareholder approval. Except for this policy and the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or in the Statement of Additional Information.

The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act, which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Rhode Island state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund invests primarily in Rhode Island Obligations, which are a type of municipal obligation. Rhode Island Obligations are obligations of the State of Rhode Island and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities and of certain other governmental issuers, of any maturity, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and Rhode Island state income tax. The Fund purchases the obligations of governmental issuers other than Rhode Island governmental issuers only when obligations of the State of Rhode Island and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities with the appropriate characteristics of quality, maturity and coupon rate are unavailable.

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Rhode Island state and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. This 80% policy may not be changed without shareholder approval. Except for this policy and the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or in the Statement of Additional Information.

The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act, which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah

The Fund’s objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Utah state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah invests primarily in Utah Double-Exempt Obligations, which are a type of municipal obligation. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Utah state individual and regular Federal income taxes, the income paid upon which will not be subject to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals. This 80% policy may not be changed without shareholder approval. Except for this policy and the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or in the Statement of Additional Information. Under normal circumstances, at least 50% of the Fund’s assets will consist of obligations of Utah-based issuers.

Utah Double-Exempt Obligations are obligations of the State of Utah and its political subdivisions, agencies and public authorities and of certain other federal governmental issuers, of any maturity, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other

 

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appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and Utah state individual income tax. Utah Double-Exempt Obligations also include obligations, of any maturity, issued by other states, the interest on which is exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel or other appropriate counsel, from regular Federal income tax and, pursuant to Utah statutory authority, from Utah individual (but not corporate) income taxes. The Utah State Tax Commission previously provided an administrative determination identifying those states, but has ceased providing that guidance. Utah’s last administrative guidance identified those states as Alaska, Florida, Indiana (for bonds acquired before January 1, 2012), Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Washington, D.C. and Washington State. Under normal circumstances, the Fund may invest up to 50% of its net assets at the time of purchase in obligations of non-Utah-based issuers. There can be no certainty as to the ongoing exemption from Utah individual income tax of the interest on obligations of states other than Utah.

The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in unrated securities, including those issued in private placement transactions. From time to time, the Fund may hold a significant percentage, or all, of the outstanding private placement bonds issued by certain issuers.

The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act, which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Municipal Obligations

Each Fund may invest in municipal obligations. Municipal obligations are issued by or on behalf of states, territories and possessions of the United States and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities to obtain funds for public purposes. They include:

· municipal notes and bonds,
· tax, revenue or bond anticipation notes,
· construction loan notes,
· project notes, which sometimes carry a U.S. government guarantee,
· municipal lease/purchase agreements,
· participation interests in municipal or other securities, and
· floating and variable rate demand notes.

There are two principal classifications of municipal bonds: general obligation bonds and revenue bonds. General obligation bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the issuing entity. Revenue bonds are typically used to fund public works projects that are expected to produce income sufficient to make the payments on the bonds, since they are not backed by the full taxing power of the municipality.

The various public purposes for which municipal obligations are issued include:

· obtaining funds for general operating expenses,
· refunding outstanding obligations,
· obtaining funds for loans to other public institutions and facilities, and
· funding capital construction, such as the construction of highways, bridges, schools, hospitals, housing, mass transportation, streets and water and wastewater systems.

Tax and revenue anticipation notes are generally issued in order to finance short-term cash needs or, occasionally, to finance construction. Tax and revenue anticipation notes are expected to be repaid from taxes or designated revenues in the related period, and they may or may not be general obligations of the issuing entity. Bond anticipation notes are issued with the expectation that their principal and interest will be paid out of proceeds from renewal notes or bonds and may be issued to finance such items as land acquisition, facility acquisition and/or construction and capital improvement projects. Municipal lease obligations are undivided interests issued by a state or municipality in a lease or installment purchase contract which generally relates to equipment or facilities. In some cases payments under municipal leases do not have to be made unless money is specifically approved for that purpose by an appropriate legislative body.

Although municipal obligations are issued by qualifying issuers, payments of principal and interest on municipal securities may be derived solely from revenues from certain facilities, mortgages or private industries, and may not be backed by the issuers themselves. Municipal obligations include participation or other interests in municipal securities issued or backed by banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. In a participation interest, a bank or other financial institution sells undivided interests in a municipal or other security it owns. Participation interests may be supported by a bank letter of credit or guarantee. The interest rate generally is adjusted periodically, and the holder can sell the interests back to the issuer after a specified notice period.

Variable and Floating Rate Securities

Each Fund may invest in variable and floating rate securities. Variable rate demand instruments require the issuer or a third party, such as a bank, insurer or broker/dealer, to repurchase the security for its face value upon demand and typically have interest rates that reset on a periodic basis. Variable rate securities reset at specified intervals, while floating rate securities reset whenever there is a change in a specified index rate. In most cases, these reset provisions reduce the impact of changes in market interest rates on the value of the security. However, the value of these securities may decline if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates

 

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in general. Conversely, variable and floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline.

Credit Downgrades and Other Credit Events

Credit rating or credit quality of a security is determined at the time of purchase. If, after purchase, the credit rating on a security is downgraded or the credit quality deteriorates, or if the duration of a security is extended, a Fund’s portfolio manager(s) will decide whether the security should continue to be held or sold. Upon the occurrence of certain triggering events or defaults on a security held by a Fund, or if an obligor of such a security has difficulty meeting its obligations, the Fund may obtain or exchange a new or restructured security or underlying assets. In that case, the Fund may become the holder of securities or other assets that it could not purchase or might not otherwise hold (for example, because they are of lower quality or are subordinated to other obligations of the issuer) at a time when those assets may be difficult to sell or can be sold only at a loss. In addition, a Fund may incur expenses in an effort to protect the Fund’s interest in securities experiencing these events.

Additional Investment Strategies

Cash Management

Each Fund may invest its assets in money market funds, any type of taxable money market instrument and short-term debt securities, or may hold cash uninvested.

Defensive Investing

Each Fund may depart from its principal investment strategies in response to adverse market, economic or political conditions and hold cash uninvested without regard to any percentage limitations. Each Fund may take temporary defensive positions and invest in shares of money market funds, any type of taxable money market instrument and short-term debt securities without regard to any percentage limitations. Although each Fund has the ability to take such defensive positions, it may choose not to do so for a variety of reasons, even during volatile market conditions.

Other Fixed Income Securities

Subject to the Fund’s 80% policy, each Fund is permitted, but not required, to purchase fixed income securities that pay interest that is subject to regular federal and/or state income taxes. Such investments may include, but are not limited to, taxable obligations issued by states, other taxable obligations such as Build America Bonds, and U.S. government securities. Fixed income securities represent obligations of corporations, governments and other entities to repay money borrowed. The issuer or borrower of the security usually pays a fixed, variable or floating rate of interest and repays the amount borrowed, usually at the maturity of the instrument. However, some fixed income securities, such as zero coupon bonds, do not pay current interest but are issued at a discount from their face values. Some debt instruments are partially or fully secured by collateral supporting the payment of interest and principal. A Fund’s investments in such taxable obligations, together with money market funds, taxable money market instruments and short-term debt securities, may not exceed 20% of a Fund’s assets.

Additional Information About the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds

Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by a Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. If the market prices of securities owned by a Fund fall, the value of your investment in the Fund will likely decline. The value of a security may fall due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. Changes in market conditions will not have the same impact on all types of securities. The value of a security may also fall due to specific conditions that affect a particular sector of the securities market or a particular issuer.

In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19, and the long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, are not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Recently, inflation and interest rates have increased and may rise further. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of a Fund’s investments, impair a Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact a Fund’s performance. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities have lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or

 

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markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.

Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which a Fund invests. Policy and legislative changes in the U.S. and in other countries are affecting many aspects of financial regulation and these and other events affecting global markets, such as the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (or Brexit), or potential trade imbalances with China or other countries, or sanctions or other government actions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies (or their countermeasures), may contribute to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the financial markets. The impact of these changes on the markets, and the implications for market participants, may not be fully known for some time.

The United States and other countries are periodically involved in disputes over trade and other matters, which may result in tariffs, investment restrictions and adverse impacts on affected companies and securities. For example, the United States has imposed tariffs and other trade barriers on Chinese exports, has restricted sales of certain categories of goods to China, and has established barriers to investments in China. Trade disputes may adversely affect the economies of the United States and its trading partners, as well as companies directly or indirectly affected and financial markets generally. The United States government has prohibited U.S. persons, such as a Fund, from investing in Chinese companies designated as related to the Chinese military. Moreover, the Chinese government is involved in a longstanding dispute with Taiwan that has included threats of invasion. If the political climate between the United States and China does not improve or continues to deteriorate, if China were to attempt unification of Taiwan by force, or if other geopolitical conflicts develop or get worse, economies, markets and individual securities may be severely affected both regionally and globally, and the value of a Fund’s assets may go down.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict including Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not a Fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected. A Fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.

LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate). LIBOR has been used extensively in the U.S. and globally as a “benchmark” or “reference rate” for various commercial and financial contracts, including municipal bonds. ICE Benchmark Administration, the administrator of LIBOR, has ceased publication of most LIBOR settings on a representative basis and is expected to cease publication of the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR settings on a representative basis after September 30, 2024. In addition, global regulators have announced that, with limited exceptions, no new LIBOR-based contracts should be entered into. Actions by regulators have resulted in the establishment of alternative reference rates to LIBOR in most major currencies. Various financial industry groups have been planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there remains uncertainty regarding the impact of the transition from LIBOR on a Fund’s transactions and the financial markets generally. The transition away from LIBOR may lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets that rely on LIBOR and may adversely affect a Fund’s performance. The transition may also result in a reduction in the value of certain LIBOR-based investments held by a Fund or reduce the effectiveness of related transactions such as hedges. Any such effects of the transition away from LIBOR as well as other unforeseen effects, could result in losses for a Fund. Because the usefulness of LIBOR as a benchmark may deteriorate during the transition period, these effects could occur at any time.

Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. When interest rates rise, the value of fixed income securities generally falls. In recent years, interest rates and credit spreads in the U.S. have been at historic lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised certain rates, and interest rates may continue to go up. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from a Fund. Generally, the longer the maturity or duration of a fixed income security, the greater the impact of a rise in interest rates on the security’s value. However, calculations of maturity or duration may be based on estimates and may not reliably predict a security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Moreover, securities can change in value in response to other factors, such as credit risk. In addition, different interest rate measures (such as short- and long-

 

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term interest rates and U.S. and foreign interest rates), or interest rates on different types of securities or securities of different issuers, may not necessarily change in the same amount or in the same direction. When interest rates go down, the income received by a Fund, and the Fund’s yield, will decline. Also, when interest rates decline, investments made by a Fund may pay a lower interest rate, which would reduce the income received and distributed by the Fund; however, the value of fixed income securities generally rises when interest rates decline. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security’s maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security’s sensitivity to other factors affecting the issuer or markets generally such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called “credit spread”). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up or “widens,” the value of the security will generally go down.

Certain fixed income securities pay interest at variable or floating rates. Variable rate securities tend to reset at specified intervals, while floating rate securities may reset whenever there is a change in a specified index rate. In most cases, these reset provisions reduce the impact of changes in market interest rates on the value of the security. However, during a period of rapidly rising interest rates, the changes in the coupon rates of the Fund’s variable rate securities may temporarily lag behind changes in market rates and shareholders could suffer loss of principal if they sell shares of a Fund before interest rates in the Fund’s securities or the assets underlying the securities are adjusted to reflect current market rates. In addition, some securities do not track the underlying index directly, but reset based on formulas that may produce a leveraging effect; others may also provide for interest payments that vary inversely with market rates. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change.

Credit Risk. If an obligor (such as the municipal issuer, a municipal insurer or other party offering credit enhancement) for a security held by a Fund fails to pay, otherwise defaults, is perceived to be less creditworthy, becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy or a security’s credit rating is downgraded or the credit quality or value of any underlying assets declines, the value of your investment in the Fund could decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. If a Fund enters into financial contracts (such as when-issued and delayed delivery transactions), the Fund will be subject to the credit risk presented by the counterparty. In particular, the number of municipal insurers is relatively small, and, as a result, changes in the financial condition of an individual municipal insurer may affect the overall municipal market. In addition, a Fund may incur expenses and suffer delays in an effort to protect the Fund’s interests or to enforce its rights. Credit risk is broadly gauged by the credit ratings of the securities in which a Fund invests. However, ratings are only the opinions of the companies issuing them and are not guarantees as to quality. Securities rated in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., Baa/BBB) may possess certain speculative characteristics.

If the claims-paying ability or other rating of an insurance company that insures obligations owned by a Fund is downgraded by a rating agency, the value of such obligations may be negatively affected. A Fund also is subject to the risk that an insurer may be unable to pay claims filed pursuant to the coverage. In the case of an insured bond, the bond’s rating will be deemed to be the higher of the rating assigned to the bond’s issuer or to the insurer. A Fund may hold several investments covered by one insurer, which would increase the Fund’s exposure to the claims-paying ability of that insurer.

In the past, each Fund has invested significantly in pre-refunded municipal bonds, which typically have a higher credit quality than other municipal bonds and a higher current income than other bonds that have a similar credit quality and maturity. Recent legislation has eliminated the tax exemption for pre-refunded municipal bonds. Accordingly, each Fund’s investments may be subject to greater credit risk and lower yields than prior to the tax law changes.

Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer’s financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency’s opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.

Risks Associated with Investments in Arizona and Other Municipal Obligations (Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona only). The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Arizona and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest.

Provisions of Arizona’s Constitution that limit the amount of debt that can be issued may impair the ability of Arizona issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. Over the years, a number of laws have been enacted, often through voter initiatives, which have increased the difficulty of raising State taxes, imposed certain mandatory expenditures by the State, or otherwise limited the Legislature and the Governor’s discretion in enacting budgets. Additionally, although Arizona’s economy is broad, it does have major components in the trade, transportation and public utilities, professional and business services, education and health services, and

 

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government sectors, and may be sensitive to economic problems affecting those sectors.

The strength of the Arizona economy will be affected by, among other factors, the strength of the national and global economies, federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. Drought conditions that threaten water supplies for Arizona and the entire Southwest may affect Arizona’s water and power infrastructure and the financial condition of Arizona public water and electric power utilities. Arizona and its various subdivisions may also face financial pressure from costs relating to pension and other post-employment benefits. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain.

Arizona’s fiscal situation could become more difficult as a result of these issues, and other impacts of the current economic environment could materially adversely affect the financial condition of the state and its municipalities. The potential deterioration of Arizona’s fiscal situation increases the risk of investing in Arizona municipal securities, including the risk of potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that the prices of Arizona municipal securities, and the Fund’s net asset value and/or yield, will experience greater volatility. Downgrades in the rating of Arizona issuers could result in a reduction in the market value of Arizona municipal securities held by the Fund, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value, yield and/or the distributions paid by the Fund.

The foregoing and other factors may result in losses to the Fund. More detailed information about the economy of Arizona may be found in the SAI.

Risks Associated with Investments in Colorado and Other Municipal Obligations (Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado only). The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Colorado and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest.

The energy sector is a source of economic activity in Colorado. Declines in oil and gas production could have an impact on employment and income growth in Colorado. In addition, decreases in oil prices and excess capacity for natural gas could suppress profits, wages, employment, and investment in the regional oil and gas industry. The housing market is also an important driver of economic growth in Colorado. Unless wage gains can offset the rising cost of living consumer spending will slow. The strength of the Colorado economy also will be affected by federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain.

The Colorado State General Fund is the focal point in determining the State’s ability to maintain or improve its fiscal position. This fund accounts for all revenues and expenditures that are not required by law to be accounted for in other funds. Ultimately, individual income tax revenue constitutes the majority of General Fund revenue for the state and is closely linked to personal income growth.

Property taxes are a significant source of revenue for many local governments. Declines in property values may negatively impact these tax revenues. The State and its various subdivisions may also face financial pressure from costs relating to pensions and other post-employment benefits.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) is a constitutional provision that limits increases in spending, as well as the amount of revenue that can be raised, by state and local governments in Colorado in each fiscal year. Revenues in excess of those permitted under TABOR must be refunded to taxpayers.

Colorado’s fiscal situation could become more difficult as a result of these issues, and other impacts of the current economic environment could materially adversely affect the financial condition of the state and its municipalities. The potential deterioration of Colorado’s fiscal situation increases the risk of investing in Colorado municipal securities, including the risk of potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that the prices of Colorado municipal securities, and the Fund’s net asset value and/ or yield, will experience greater volatility. Downgrades in the ratings of Colorado issuers could result in a reduction in the market value of Colorado municipal securities held by the Fund, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value, yield and/or distributions paid by the Fund.

The foregoing and other factors may result in losses to the Fund. More detailed information about the economy of Colorado may be found in the SAI.

Risks Associated with Investments in Kentucky and Other Municipal Obligations (Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky only). The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Kentucky and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest.

The market for Kentucky coal and losses in mining-related jobs continue to be areas of concern. Coal production and demand have decreased significantly in recent years, and there have been mine closings. The dramatic expansion and availability of natural gas, coupled with pending air quality requirements have made numerous power generators re-evaluate whether coal is the most economical fuel supply for the coming years. Power plants are shifting their structure towards more natural gas-generated electricity production. Property taxes are a significant source of revenue for many local governments,

 

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and declines in property values may negatively impact these tax revenues. Economic growth in the nation and in Kentucky is anticipated to occur in industries and occupations that require relatively high skills and education, however, Kentucky has a less-educated labor force than the rest of the nation.

Kentucky has significant long-term liabilities. The Kentucky state budget has been structurally imbalanced for years. Kentucky has continued to rely on one-time revenue sources to close the funding gaps. The Commonwealth and its various subdivisions may also face financial pressure from costs relating to pensions and other post-employment benefits. Debt levels are moderately high in relation to the Commonwealth’s economic base. Kentucky’s retirement systems are significantly underfunded. The strength of the Kentucky economy also will be affected by federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain.

Kentucky’s fiscal situation could become more difficult as a result of these issues, and other impacts of the current economic environment could materially adversely affect the financial condition of the Commonwealth and its municipalities. The potential deterioration of Kentucky’s fiscal situation increases the risk of investing in Kentucky municipal securities, including the risk of potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that the prices of Kentucky municipal securities, and the Fund’s net asset value and/or yield, will experience greater volatility. Downgrades in the ratings of Kentucky issuers could result in a reduction in the market value of Kentucky municipal securities held by the Fund, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value, yield and/or distributions paid by the Fund.

The foregoing and other factors may result in losses to the Fund. More detailed information about the economy of Kentucky may be found in the SAI.

Risks Associated with Investments in Oregon and Other Municipal Obligations (Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon only). The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Oregon and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest.

The strength of the Oregon economy will be affected by, among other factors, the strength of the national and global economies, federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. The strength of residential construction is important to the Oregon economy due to wood products production. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain.

Oregon’s debt levels are high in relation to its economic base. The state is highly vulnerable to budgetary strain due to its high reliance on volatile income taxes. The State has mixed demographic trends with above average population and in migration growth, but below average wealth levels. Property taxes are a significant source of revenue for many local governments. Oregon has had a relatively high unemployment rate in recent years. The State and its various subdivisions may also face financial pressure from costs relating to pensions and other post-employment benefits.

Oregon is subject to periodic earthquakes and has also experienced significant wildfire events during the past several years. The loss of life and property damage that could result from such events could have a material adverse effect on Oregon’s financial condition.

Oregon’s fiscal situation could become more difficult as a result of these issues, and other impacts of the current economic environment could materially adversely affect the financial condition of the state and its municipalities. The potential deterioration of Oregon’s fiscal situation increases the risk of investing in Oregon municipal securities, including the risk of potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that prices of Oregon municipal securities, and the Fund’s net asset value and/or yield, will experience greater volatility. Downgrades in the ratings of Oregon issuers could result in a reduction in the market value of Oregon municipal securities held by the Fund, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value, yield and/or distributions paid by the Fund.

The foregoing and other factors may result in losses to the Fund. More detailed information about the economy of Oregon may be found in the SAI.

Risks Associated with Investments in Rhode Island and Other Municipal Obligations (Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund only). The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Rhode Island and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest.

Rhode Island continues to face problems related to underfunded municipal pension plans and other post-employee benefit liabilities. A number of municipalities in Rhode Island have experienced financial difficulties. Rhode Island’s retirement systems are underfunded. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain.

Rhode Island’s fiscal situation could become more difficult as a result of these issues and other impacts of the current economic environment could materially adversely affect the financial condition of the state and its municipalities. The potential further deterioration of Rhode Island’s fiscal situation increases the risk of investing in Rhode Island municipal securities, including the risk of

 

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potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that the prices of Rhode Island municipal securities, and the Fund’s net asset value and/or yield, will experience greater volatility. Downgrades in the ratings of Rhode Island issuers could result in a reduction in the market value of Rhode Island municipal securities held by the Fund, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value, yield and/or the distributions paid by the Fund.

The foregoing and other factors may result in losses to the Fund. More detailed information about the economy of Rhode Island may be found in the SAI.

Risks Associated with Investments in Utah and Other Municipal Obligations (Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah only). The Fund may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Utah and other municipal issuers in which the Fund may invest.

Provisions of Utah’s Constitution and state statutes that limit the borrowing, taxing and spending authority of Utah’s governmental entities may impair the ability of Utah issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. Utah’s economy is considered to be knowledge-based, entrepreneurial, and information technology-driven and encompasses a variety of industries, including but not limited to, agriculture, construction, energy, minerals, tourism, technology, communications, healthcare, financial services, higher education, defense, transportation and government services, and may be sensitive to economic problems affecting those sectors. The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants of COVID-19 is uncertain.

Utah households pay more in State and local taxes per household than the national average. The current relatively high level of taxation could adversely affect the ability of Utah issuers to raise taxes substantially or at all. The strength of the Utah economy also will be affected by federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, including the tapering of expansionary monetary policy by the Federal Reserve and tax increases, the strength of the global economy, including slow growth in the European Union, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. Utah and its various subdivisions may also face financial pressure from costs relating to pension and other post-employment benefits.

Utah’s fiscal situation could become more difficult as a result of these issues, and other impacts of the current economic environment could materially adversely affect the financial condition of the state and its municipalities. The potential deterioration of Utah’s fiscal situation increases the risk of investing in Utah municipal securities, including the risk of potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that the prices of Utah municipal securities, and the Fund’s net asset value and/or yield, will experience greater volatility. Downgrades in the ratings of Utah issuers could result in a reduction in the market value of Utah municipal securities held by the Fund, which could negatively impact the Fund’s net asset value, yield and/or the distributions paid by the Fund.

The foregoing and other factors may result in losses to the Fund. More detailed information about the economy of Utah may be found in the SAI.

Additional Risks Associated with Municipal Obligations (All Funds). Decreases in personal income levels and property values and other unfavorable economic factors, such as a general economic recession, may adversely affect municipal securities since issuers of municipal securities tend to derive a significant portion of their revenue from taxes, particularly property and income taxes. Municipal issuers may also be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities and by the phasing out of Federal programs providing financial support. Where municipal securities are issued to finance particular projects, especially those relating to education, health care, transportation, and utilities, issuers often depend on revenues from those projects to make principal and interest payments. Adverse financial and economic conditions and developments in those sectors may result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities and may also have an adverse effect on the broader municipal securities market.

There may be less public information available on municipal issuers or projects than other issuers, and valuing municipal securities may be more difficult. Timely, accurate and complete information regarding municipal issuers may not be available. In addition, the secondary market for municipal securities is less well developed and liquid than other markets, and dealers may be less willing to offer and sell municipal securities in times of market turbulence. Changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers (or one or more insurers of municipal issuers), or one or more defaults by municipal issuers or insurers, can adversely affect liquidity and valuations in the overall market for municipal securities. The value of municipal securities can also be adversely affected by regulatory and political developments affecting the ability of municipal issuers to pay interest or repay principal, actual or anticipated tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Changes in federal law or regulation, federal budgetary changes, trade disputes or other actions may lead to reductions in federal spending. Reductions in federal funding or other changes that increase state spending could place additional strain on the state and local governments and may have a negative effect on their ability to meet their obligations. There could be legal challenges to the authority of certain entities to issue municipal securities. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.

 

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Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code provides a financially distressed municipality protection from its creditors while it develops and negotiates a plan for reorganizing its debts. The reorganization of a municipality’s debts may include extending debt maturities, reducing the amount of principal or interest, refinancing the debt or taking other measures, which may significantly affect the rights of creditors and the value of the securities issued by the municipality and the value of the Fund’s investments.

Tax Risk. Each Fund purchases municipal securities the interest on which, in the opinion of bond counsel or other counsel at the time the securities are issued, is exempt from regular Federal income tax and the applicable state’s income tax. There is no guarantee that this opinion is correct, and there is no assurance that the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) or state taxing authorities will agree with bond counsel’s opinion. If the IRS or a state taxing authority determines that an issuer of a municipal security has not complied with applicable requirements, interest from the security could become subject to Federal income tax and/or state income tax, possibly retroactively to the date the security was issued, the value of the security could decline significantly, and a portion of the distributions to Fund shareholders could be recharacterized as taxable dividends. Recent legislation has eliminated the tax exemption for certain types of municipal bonds. Future litigation or legislation or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities could also adversely affect the tax status of municipal securities held by a Fund.

Unrated Securities Risk. When a Fund purchases securities that are not rated by any nationally recognized statistical rating organization, the Manager internally assigns ratings to those securities, after assessing their credit quality and other factors, in categories similar to those of nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. The Manager’s rating does not constitute a guarantee of credit quality. In addition, unrated securities may be less liquid than rated securities determined to be of comparable quality.

Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments, including securities issued in private placement transactions, are difficult to purchase or sell. Although most of the Funds’ investments must be liquid at the time of investment, investments may become illiquid after purchase by a Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil or due to adverse changes in the condition of a particular issuer. Markets may become illiquid when, for instance, there are few, if any, interested buyers and sellers or when dealers are unwilling to make a market for certain securities. As a general matter, dealers recently have been less willing to make markets for fixed income securities. During times of market turmoil, there have been, and may be, no buyers for securities in entire asset classes, including U.S. Treasury securities. A lack of liquidity or other adverse credit market conditions may affect the Fund’s ability to sell its investments and to purchase suitable investments. Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah may invest a significant portion of its assets in securities issued in private placement transactions. Certain investments in private placements, which are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale and/or may lack a ready market for resale, may be considered illiquid investments. When a Fund holds illiquid investments, the portfolio may be harder to value, especially in changing markets, and if the Fund is forced to sell these investments to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs or to try to limit losses, the Fund may suffer a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. A Fund may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value, which could cause the value of your investment to decline. In addition, when there is illiquidity in the market for certain investments, a Fund, due to limitations on illiquid investments, may be unable to achieve its desired level of exposure to a certain sector. From time to time, Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah may hold a significant percentage, or all, of the outstanding private placement bonds issued by certain issuers. To the extent that a Fund holds a material percentage of the outstanding issue of a bond, this practice may adversely impact the liquidity and market value of that investment. Further, certain securities, once sold, may not settle for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). A Fund will not receive its sales proceeds until that time, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders). Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads in which investor redemptions may be higher than normal.

Prepayment or Call Risk. Many fixed income securities give the issuer the option to repay or call the security prior to its maturity date. Issuers often exercise this right when interest rates fall. Accordingly, if a Fund holds a fixed income security that can be prepaid or called prior to its maturity date, it will not benefit fully from the increase in value that other fixed income securities generally experience when interest rates fall. Upon prepayment of the security, a Fund could also be forced to reinvest the proceeds at then current yields, which would be lower than the yield of the security that was paid off. In addition, if a Fund purchases a fixed income security at a premium (at a price that exceeds its stated par or principal value), the Fund may lose the amount of the premium paid in the event of prepayment.

Extension Risk. When interest rates rise, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated, extending the effective duration of these fixed income securities at below market interest rates and causing their market prices to decline even more than they would have declined due to the rise in interest rates alone. This may cause a Fund’s share price to be more volatile.

Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Manager’s, or, for Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund, the Sub-Adviser’s, judgment about the attractiveness, quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or

 

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region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.

Valuation Risk. Many factors may influence the price at which a Fund could sell any particular portfolio investment. The sales price may well differ—higher or lower—from a Fund’s valuation of the investment, and such differences could be significant, particularly for illiquid securities and securities that trade in relatively thin markets and/or markets that experience extreme volatility. These differences may increase significantly and affect Fund investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Nearly all of each Fund’s investments are valued using a fair value methodology. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares may receive a greater or lesser number of shares, or greater or lower redemption proceeds, than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued or if a different valuation methodology had been used. A Fund’s ability to value its investments may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.

Redemption Risk. A Fund may experience periods of heavy redemptions that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that a Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs. In addition, redemption risk is heightened during periods of overall market turmoil. The redemption by one or more large shareholders of their holdings in a Fund could hurt performance and/or cause the remaining shareholders in the Fund to lose money. If one decision maker has control of Fund shares owned by separate Fund shareholders, including clients or affiliates of the Fund’s Manager or, for Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund, Sub-Adviser, redemptions by these shareholders may further increase the Fund’s redemption risk. If a Fund is forced to liquidate its assets under unfavorable conditions or at inopportune times, the value of your investment could decline.

Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of a Fund’s Manager, Sub-Adviser, Transfer Agent, Custodian, Distributor or other service providers may disrupt Fund operations, interfere with the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Fund shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding a Fund or their investment in a Fund, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to a Fund and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs. Substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future. A Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

Non-Diversification Risk. Each Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with “diversified” funds, each Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more a Fund invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Fund is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Funds may be more risky than more geographically diverse funds.

Risk of Increase in Expenses. Your actual costs of investing in a Fund may be higher than the expenses shown in “Annual Fund Operating Expenses” for a variety of reasons. For example, expense ratios may be higher than those shown if a fee limitation were to be in place and were to be changed or terminated or if average net assets decrease. Net assets are more likely to decrease and Fund expense ratios are more likely to increase when markets are volatile.

Cash Management Risk and Defensive Investing Risk. Money market instruments or short-term debt securities held by a Fund for cash management or defensive investing purposes can fluctuate in value. Like other fixed income securities, they are subject to risk, including market, interest rate and credit risk. If a Fund holds cash uninvested, it will be subject to the credit risk of the depository institution holding the cash. In addition, a Fund will not earn income on the cash and the Fund’s yield will go down. If a significant amount of a Fund’s assets are used for cash management or defensive investing purposes, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective.

Please note that there are other factors that could adversely affect your investment and that could prevent a Fund from achieving its investment objective. More information about risks appears in the SAI. Before investing, you should carefully consider the risks you will assume.

Portfolio Holdings

A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of portfolio securities is available in the SAI and on each Fund’s website.

Fund Management

How is each Fund managed?

Aquila Investment Management LLC, 120 West 45th Street, Suite 3600, New York, NY 10036, the Manager, is each Fund’s investment adviser under an Advisory and Administration Agreement. With respect to each of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona, Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado, Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky, Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah, the Manager supervises continuously the investment program of the Fund and the composition of its portfolio, determining what securities will be purchased or sold by the Fund and arranging for the purchase and the sale of securities held in the portfolio of the Fund, provides the Fund with local advisory service; and, at the Manager’s expense, provides for pricing of the Fund’s portfolio. With respect to each Fund, the Manager is also responsible for administrative services, including providing for the

 

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maintenance of the headquarters of the Fund, overseeing relationships between the Fund and the service providers to the Fund and providing other administrative services.

The Funds’ Manager is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aquila Management Corporation (“AMC”), founder and sponsor of each fund in the Aquila Group of Funds. As of May 31, 2023, the Aquila Group of Funds consisted of seven tax-free municipal bond funds, a high income corporate bond fund and an equity fund, with aggregate assets of approximately $2.25 billion, of which approximately $2.03 billion consisted of assets of the tax-free municipal bond funds. AMC’s address is the same as that of the Manager. AMC was founded in 1984 and is owned by Diana P. Herrmann and members of her family. Ms. Herrmann is Vice Chair, a Trustee and the President of the Trust and Chair and Chief Executive Officer of AMC.

The Funds are not subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), and the Funds’ Board of Trustees, Manager, Sub-Adviser and other service providers are not fiduciaries under ERISA. Nothing in this Prospectus is intended to constitute advice for purposes of ERISA.

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona

Mr. Anthony Tanner, Mr. James Thompson, Mr. Royden Durham, and Mr. Timothy Iltz (effective August 1, 2023) form the Fund’s portfolio management team.

Mr. Tanner, based in Phoenix, AZ, is the Fund’s lead portfolio manager and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Tanner has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining the Manager in 2018, Mr. Tanner was a Senior Portfolio Manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management from 2016 to 2018, a Senior Client Advisor at BMO Private Bank from 2014 to 2015, and a Senior Fixed Income Manager at Wells Fargo Private Bank from 2010 to 2014.

Mr. Thompson has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017 and has served as a member of the Fund’s portfolio management team since 2009. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. He has over 30 years of experience in the municipal finance industry. Most recently Mr. Thompson served as underwriter and municipal bond trader for Wells Fargo Brokerage Services. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

Mr. Durham has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Durham has over forty years of experience in the financial services industry. He is a graduate of Heidelberg University with a B.A. in Economics and German. Most recently Mr. Durham served in a trust capacity for JP Morgan Chase. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager for Regions Morgan Keegan Trust and the Louisville Trust Company.

Mr. Iltz will become a portfolio manager of the Fund effective August 1, 2023. Mr. Iltz has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since December 19, 2022. Mr. Iltz is the lead portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2018. Mr. Iltz has over 20 years of experience in the fixed income industry, serving clients as portfolio manager, financial advisor, investment banker, analyst and consultant. Mr. Iltz was a Vice President and Municipal Bond Credit Analyst at Davidson Fixed Income Management, Inc., doing business as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management, from 2011 to 2023 and as portfolio manager from 2018 to 2023. He previously worked as a Vice President in Fixed Income Banking for Wedbush Securities in Portland and has over 11 years of public finance investment banking experience including the full spectrum of bond issues available to local governments.

The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities of the Fund.

The Manager is currently entitled to receive a management fee at the annual rate of 0.50% of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets; provided, however, that for any day that the Fund pays or accrues a fee under the Distribution Plan of the Fund based upon the assets of the Fund, the annual fee shall be payable at the annual rate of 0.40% of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund accrued management fees to the Manager at the annual rate of 0.40% of 1% of its average annual net assets.

A discussion regarding the Trustees’ basis for approving the annual renewal of the Advisory and Administration Agreement is available in the semi-annual report to shareholders for the period ended September 30, 2022.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado

Mr. Royden Durham, Mr. Vasilios Gerasopoulos and Mr. Timothy Iltz form the Fund’s portfolio management team.

Mr. Durham has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since March 6, 2023. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona, Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Durham has over forty years of experience in the financial services industry. He is a graduate of Heidelberg University with a B.A. in Economics and German. Prior to joining the Manager in 2011, Mr. Durham served in a trust capacity for JP Morgan Chase. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager for Regions Morgan Keegan Trust and the Louisville Trust Company.

Mr. Gerasopoulos is an associate portfolio manager of the Manager effective March 6, 2023. Mr. Gerasopoulos has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Fund

 

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of Colorado since March 6, 2023. Mr. Gerasopoulos was a Credit Analyst at Davidson Fixed Income Management, Inc., doing business as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management, from 2015 to 2023. Previously, Mr. Gerasopoulos was a Senior Financial Analyst, Bond and Debt, for Jefferson County, Colorado from December 2012 to 2015. Mr. Gerasopoulos has over 10 years of experience in the public finance industry, working for local government entities and in public finance investment banking.

Mr. Iltz is a portfolio manager of the Manager effective March 6, 2023. Mr. Iltz has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since December 19, 2022. Mr. Iltz is the lead portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2018. Mr. Iltz has over 20 years of experience in the fixed income industry, serving clients as portfolio manager, financial advisor, investment banker, analyst and consultant. Mr. Iltz was a Vice President and Municipal Bond Credit Analyst at Davidson Fixed Income Management, Inc., doing business as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management, from 2011 to 2023 and as portfolio manager from 2018 to 2023. He previously worked as a Vice President in Fixed Income Banking for Wedbush Securities in Portland and has over 11 years of public finance investment banking experience including the full spectrum of bond issues available to local governments.

The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager and the portfolio manager’s ownership of securities of the Fund.

The Manager is currently entitled to receive a management fee at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund accrued management fees to the Manager at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of its average annual net assets. The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.48 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.46 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.44 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. After waivers and/or reimbursements, the Fund paid management fees equal to 0.48 of 1% of its average annual net assets during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.

A discussion regarding the Trustees’ basis for approving the annual renewal of the Advisory and Administration Agreement is available in the semi-annual report to shareholders for the period ended September 30, 2022.

Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky

Mr. Royden Durham, Mr. Anthony Tanner and Mr. James Thompson form the Fund’s portfolio management team.

Mr. Durham, based in Louisville, KY, is the Fund’s lead portfolio manager and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2011. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Durham has over forty years of experience in the financial services industry. He is a graduate of Heidelberg University with a B.A. in Economics and German. Most recently Mr. Durham served in a trust capacity for JP Morgan Chase. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager for Regions Morgan Keegan Trust and the Louisville Trust Company.

Mr. Tanner has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018. He is also a member of the portfolio management team of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Tanner has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining the Manager in 2018, Mr. Tanner was a Senior Portfolio Manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management from 2016 to 2018, a Senior Client Advisor at BMO Private Bank from 2014 to 2015, and a Senior Fixed Income Manager at Wells Fargo Private Bank from 2010 to 2014.

Mr. Thompson has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017 and has served as a member of the Fund’s portfolio management team since 2009. He is also a member of the portfolio management team of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Thompson has over 30 years of experience in the municipal finance industry. Most recently Mr. Thompson served as underwriter and municipal bond trader for Wells Fargo Brokerage Services. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities of the Fund.

The Manager is currently entitled to receive a management fee at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets; provided, however, that for any day that the Fund pays or accrues a fee under the Distribution Plan of the Fund based upon the assets of the Fund, the annual fee shall be payable at the annual rate of 0.40 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Fund accrued management fees to the Manager at the annual rate of 0.40 of 1% of its average annual net assets.

A discussion regarding the Trustees’ basis for approving the annual renewal of the Advisory and Administration Agreement is available in the semi-annual report to shareholders for the period ended September 30, 2022.

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon

Mr. Timothy Iltz (lead portfolio manager), Mr. Anthony Tanner and Mr. James Thompson form the Fund’s portfolio management team.

Mr. Iltz is a portfolio manager of the Manager effective March 6, 2023. Mr. Iltz has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since December 19, 2022. Mr. Iltz is the lead portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon and has served as a portfolio manager

 

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of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2018. Mr. Iltz has over 20 years of experience in the fixed income industry, serving clients as portfolio manager, financial advisor, investment banker, analyst and consultant. Mr. Iltz was a Vice President and Municipal Bond Credit Analyst at Davidson Fixed Income Management, Inc., doing business as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management, from 2011 to 2023 and as portfolio manager from 2018 to 2023. He previously worked as a Vice President in Fixed Income Banking for Wedbush Securities in Portland and has over 11 years of public finance investment banking experience including the full spectrum of bond issues available to local governments.

Mr. Tanner has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon since March 6, 2023. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona, Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. Mr. Tanner has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining the Manager in 2018, Mr. Tanner was a Senior Portfolio Manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management from 2016 to 2018, a Senior Client Advisor at BMO Private Bank from 2014 to 2015, and a Senior Fixed Income Manager at Wells Fargo Private Bank from 2010 to 2014.

Mr. Thompson has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon since March 6, 2023. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona, Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah. He has over 30 years of experience in the municipal finance industry. Prior to joining the Manager in 2009, Mr. Thompson served as underwriter and municipal bond trader for Wells Fargo Brokerage Services. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities of the Fund.

The Manager is entitled to receive a management fee at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets; provided, however, that for any date that the Fund pays or accrues a fee under the Distribution Plan of the Fund based upon the assets of the Fund, the annual fee shall be payable at the annual rate of 0.40 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund accrued management fees to the Manager at the annual rate of 0.40 of 1% of its average annual net assets. The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.40 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400 million; 0.38 of 1% of net assets above $400 million up to $1 billion; and 0.36 of 1% of net assets above $1 billion. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. After waivers and/or reimbursements, the Fund paid management fees equal to 0.40 of 1% of its average annual net assets during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.

A discussion regarding the Trustees’ basis for approving the annual renewal of the Advisory and Administration Agreement is available in the Fund’s semi-annual report to shareholders for the period ended September 30, 2022.

Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund

With respect to Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund, investment advisory duties, including portfolio management, have been delegated to Clarfeld Financial Advisors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citizens Bank, N.A. (the “Sub-Adviser”), 520 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591, under a Sub-Advisory Agreement. The Sub-Adviser provides the Fund with local advisory services. Under the Sub-Advisory Agreement, the Sub-Adviser supervises continuously the investment program of the Fund and the composition of its portfolio, determining what securities will be purchased or sold by the Fund, and arranging for the purchase and the sale of securities held in the portfolio of the Fund; and, at the Sub-Adviser’s expense, providing for pricing of the Fund’s portfolio.

The Sub-Adviser has approximately $7.6 billion in assets under management and $4.2 billion in assets under advisement as of March 31, 2023. The Sub-Adviser is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citizens Bank, N.A., a bank subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (“CFG”). CFG is a commercial bank holding company with total assets of $222.3 billion. It is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and, through its subsidiaries, has 1,100 branches and nearly 19,000 employees. It operates its branch network in 14 states and has non-branch retail and commercial offices in select markets nationwide.

Mr. Jeffrey K. Hanna is the portfolio manager of the Fund. Mr. Hanna, a Senior Vice President of the Sub-Adviser, has served as the portfolio manager or co-portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2005. He was formerly an assistant portfolio manager of the Predecessor Fund and served as such from 2000 to 2005. Mr. Hanna operates out of an office in Providence, Rhode Island.

The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager and the portfolio manager’s ownership of securities of the Fund.

The Manager is currently entitled to receive a management fee at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund accrued management fees to the Manager at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of its average annual net assets. The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.48 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.46 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.44 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30,

 

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2024. After waivers and/or reimbursements, the Fund paid management fees equal to 0.43 of 1% of its average annual net assets during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.

The Manager, and not the Fund, pays a portion of the fees it receives from the Fund to the Sub-Adviser as compensation for the Sub-Adviser’s services to the Fund. The Sub-Adviser is entitled to receive a fee at the annual rate of 0.23 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. The Sub-Adviser has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual sub-advisory fee rate is equivalent to 0.175% of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024.

A discussion regarding the Trustees’ basis for approving the annual renewal of the Advisory and Administration Agreement and the Sub-Advisory Agreement is available in the semi-annual report to shareholders for the period ended September 30, 2022.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah

Mr. James Thompson, Mr. Royden Durham, Mr. Anthony Tanner, and Mr. Timothy Iltz (effective August 1, 2023) form the Fund’s portfolio management team.

Mr. Thompson, based in Bountiful, UT, is the Fund’s lead portfolio manager and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2009. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona and Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky. Mr. Thompson has over 30 years of experience in the municipal finance industry. Most recently he served as underwriter and municipal bond trader for Wells Fargo Brokerage Services in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Thompson plans to retire as a portfolio manager on December 31, 2023.

Mr. Durham has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona and Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky. Mr. Durham has over forty years of experience in the financial services industry. He is a graduate of Heidelberg University with a B.A. in Economics and German. Most recently, he served in a trust capacity for JP Morgan Chase. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager for Regions Morgan Keegan Trust and the Louisville Trust Company.

Mr. Tanner has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018. He also serves as a member of the portfolio management teams of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona and Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky. Mr. Tanner has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining the Manager in 2018, Mr. Tanner was a Senior Portfolio Manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management from 2016 to 2018, a Senior Client Advisor at BMO Private Bank from 2014 to 2015, and a Senior Fixed Income Manager at Wells Fargo Private Bank from 2010 to 2014.

Mr. Iltz will become a portfolio manager of the Fund effective August 1, 2023. Mr. Iltz has served as a portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since December 19, 2022. Mr. Iltz is the lead portfolio manager of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon and has served as a portfolio manager of the Fund and the Predecessor Fund since 2018. Mr. Iltz has over 20 years of experience in the fixed income industry, serving clients as portfolio manager, financial advisor, investment banker, analyst and consultant. Mr. Iltz was a Vice President and Municipal Bond Credit Analyst at Davidson Fixed Income Management, Inc., doing business as Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management, from 2011 to 2023 and as portfolio manager from 2018 to 2023. He previously worked as a Vice President in Fixed Income Banking for Wedbush Securities in Portland and has over 11 years of public finance investment banking experience including the full spectrum of bond issues available to local governments.

The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities of the Fund.

The Manager is currently entitled to receive a management fee at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of the Fund’s average annual net assets. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund accrued management fees to the Manager at the annual rate of 0.50 of 1% of its average annual net assets. The Manager has contractually undertaken to waive its fees to the extent necessary so that the annual management fee rate is equivalent to 0.48 of 1% of net assets of the Fund up to $400,000,000; 0.46 of 1% of net assets above $400,000,000 up to $1,000,000,000; and 0.44 of 1% of net assets above $1,000,000,000. This contractual undertaking is in effect until September 30, 2024. After waivers and/or reimbursements, the Fund paid management fees to the Manager equal to 0.48 of 1% of its average annual net assets during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.

A discussion regarding the Trustees’ basis for approving the annual renewal of the Advisory and Administration Agreement is available in the semi-annual report to shareholders for the period ended September 30, 2022.

Net Asset Value per Share

The net asset value of the shares of each Fund’s classes of shares is determined on each day that the New York Stock Exchange is open (a “business day”), as of the scheduled close of regular trading (normally 4:00 p.m., New York time), by dividing the value of that Fund’s net assets (which means the value of the assets less liabilities) allocable to each class by the total number of shares of such class outstanding at that time. Portfolio securities generally are fair valued on the basis of market valuations furnished by a pricing service, which may use market prices for comparable securities or broker/dealer quotations or a variety of fair valuation techniques and methodologies to determine valuations. Any securities or assets for which pricing services are unable to supply prices, or if the prices supplied are determined to be unreliable are valued at their fair value. The Manager has been designated as

 

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each Fund’s Valuation Designee, with responsibility for fair valuation subject to oversight by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. The price at which a purchase or redemption of shares is effected is based on the net asset value next calculated after your purchase or redemption order is received in proper form. The New York Stock Exchange annually announces the days on which it will not be open. The most recent announcement indicates that it will not be open on the following days: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. However, the New York Stock Exchange may close on days not included in that announcement.

Purchases

Are there alternative purchase plans?

The Funds provide individuals with alternative ways to purchase shares through different classes of shares. Although the classes of shares of a Fund have different sales charge structures and ongoing expenses, they all represent interests in the same portfolio of investments. An investor should choose the class that best suits the investor’s circumstances and needs.

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona, Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado, Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon and Aquila Tax-Free Fund For Utah currently offer four classes of shares: Class A Class C, Class F and Class Y.

Aquila Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Aquila Narragansett Tax-Free Income Fund currently offer five classes of shares: Class A, Class C, Class F, Class I and Class Y.

Class A Shares and Class C Shares are available to investors either through a financial intermediary or directly from a Fund.

Class F Shares, Class I Shares and Class Y Shares are available only to investors who are investing through a financial intermediary. Not all financial intermediaries make Class F Shares, Class I Shares and Class Y Shares available to their clients.

In which states can I buy shares of a Fund?

Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona

You can purchase shares of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Arizona if you live in Arizona or in one of the other states listed below.

If you are a resident of a state other than Arizona, dividends from the Fund may be subject to state income taxes in that state. Therefore, you should consult your tax adviser before buying shares of the Fund.

On the date of this Prospectus, Class A Shares and Class C Shares are available in:

Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

In addition, Class A Shares are available in:

Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin.

On the date of this Prospectus, Class F Shares are available in:

Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Virginia.

On the date of this Prospectus, Class Y Shares are available in:

Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado

You can purchase shares of Aquila Tax-Free Fund of Colorado if you live in Colorado or in one of the other states listed below.

If you are a resident of a state other than Colorado, dividends from the Fund may be subject to state income taxes in that state. Therefore, you should consult your tax adviser before buying shares of the Fund.

On the date of this Prospectus, Class A Shares and Class C Shares are available in:

Colorado, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.