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Save the Date!
The annual
Wisconsin Public Finance and Education Seminar will be held February 10-11, 2011 at
the Kalahari Resort in Lake
Delton.
With
exciting topics, speakers, and networking opportunities, you want to
make sure you don't miss out, so mark your calendars and look for
more details soon and in the next edition of The Advisor.
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WMCA Celebrates 30th by
Puttin' On The Ritz
The Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association will be
celebrating their 30th anniversary August 18-20, 2010 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
This year's theme of 'Puttin' On the Ritz' reflects
the atmosphere at the Hotel Sierra and KI Convention center, with
classes, demonstrations and sessions as part of the schedule.
Pre-Conference classes begin on Wednesday, August
18th, with Opening Ceremonies held on Thursday, August 19th at
8:30 AM.
Be sure to stop by the Ehlers Booth during the
"Break with Vendors," and don't forget to bring your beads
from last year's conference!
More details can be found at WMCA 2010 Conference.
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Debt Refinancing Saves City
of Oshkosh
Taxpayers Over $2.6 Million
The City of
Oshkosh Common Council
has awarded the sale of $34,330,000 in General Obligation bonds and
notes. Savings to City taxpayers and utility customers of
$2,611,155 were achieved by issuing $21,040,000 in bonds to refund
existing City debt at lower interest rates.
To read
more about how the City saved taxpayers money, click here.
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Ehlers
375 Bishops Way
Suite 225
Brookfield, WI
53005
Phone:
262-785-1520
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Greetings!
Welcome
to the August edition of The Advisor.
We
encourage you to forward it to others who may be interested or ask
them to sign up to receive their own copy.
In this issue, we're celebrating successes of some
of our business partners. The Wisconsin Municipal Clerks
Association is celebrating their 30th Anniversary this week in Green Bay.
For anyone attending the conference, I'm extending a personal
invitation to stop by the Ehlers booth and meet our team.
And speaking of something to celebrate, the City
of Oshkosh
recently had a debt refinancing that saved its taxpayers over
$2.6 Million. Some other stories in this issue include:
If you have feedback about what you'd like to see
in future issues, please let us know. And remember to check
out our Ehlers's
Bi-Weekly Commentary located on our website
in between newsletters.
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On behalf
of the entire team here, we'd like to extend congratulations to
both the WMCA and the City of Oshkosh.
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American Recovery & Reinvestment Act Bond
Programs Face Uncertain Future
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed in
February 2009 introduced several new bond programs including Build
America Bonds (BABs), Recovery Zone Facility Bonds (RZFBs), and
Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds (RZEDBs).
These ARRA bond programs are set to expire on January 1,
2011.
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Levy Limits and Debt
Service: Ensuring Proper Completion of Your Levy Limit Worksheet
As
communities begin preparation of their 2011 budgets, it is a
good time to review the levy limit adjustments and exceptions
available for debt service payments. Proper worksheet
categorization of debt payments maximizes the amount of levy
capacity available for operations and other non-debt expenditures.
The following is a summary of debt service related levy limit
worksheet items.
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Moody's and
Standard and Poors: Reducing Risks at Your Cost?
 The prognosticators of risk are now reducing
their risks. Moody's has long given their opinions on risk. Now they are trying to limit
their own risk.
This year, Moody's began requiring all issuers
to sign rating applications for all new financings. Historically, signed applications
were only needed to obtain preferred pricing discounts.
Click here
to continue reading.
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Congratulations to Shorewood & Whitefish
Bay for Award
on Intergovernmental Cooperation
 Ehlers
is pleased to serve as the Financial Advisor to both of these Milwaukee
area metro communities. Recently, both were recognized by the
Public Policy Forum for their ability to reach an agreement to
detach land from the Village of Whitefish Bay and annex it to the Village of Shorewood so that Shorewood
could provide the Tax Incremental Financing incentives needed to
enable a multi-million dollar mixed use development.
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 Meet Our Newest Team
Members
Veronica Rudychev joined Ehlers & Associates as an Analyst in
July 2010. Prior to coming to Ehlers, Veronica worked for the
Village of Elm Grove and the Village
of Bayside in Wisconsin.
She has varied local government experience including areas dealing
with zoning, planning, municipal accounting, elections, and general
local government management.
Receiving a Bachelor of
Arts in Political Science and International Studies, along with a
minor in Economics from UW-Milwaukee, Veronica is currently
working towards a Masters in Public Administration at
UW-Milwaukee.
Veronica is a member of the
Wisconsin City/County Managers Association (WCMA), Wisconsin
Association of Municipal/County Assistant Managers (WAMCAM),
International City/County Managers Association (ICMA), as well as
the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. She served on the WAMCAM
Executive Board from 2009-2010.
 Tracy Ringwell joined Ehlers as an Office
Assistant in July 2010. Prior to joining Ehlers, Tracy was an office administrator for a real
estate company in Florida. She will be assisting the
Wisconsin Team with a variety of general administrative support and
special projects related to Ehlers debt issuance, financial
planning, and economic development services.
In her spare time, Tracy enjoys
reading, camping and spending time with her family and friends. Her
willingness to learn new things and help out others makes Tracy fit
into the team.
Welcome to Ehlers, Veronica and
Tracy!
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