By Dan Tienter, Municipal Advisor Blueprint for a Better Budget At Ehlers, we often emphasize that budget development and adoption may be the most critical activity for any local government. Yet, despite the significance of this annual practice, the public sometimes knows little about its impact on their daily lives – both in the costs […]
By Nick Anhut, Senior Municipal Advisor The City of St. Francis Builds New Joint City Hall & Fire Station The City of St. Francis had been in discussions over building a new City Hall for over 20 years, only to find it was never quite “the right time.” Repeated investments of staff time, studies and […]
By Brian Johnson, Director of Investment Services 2025 kicked off with speculation and uncertainty about how the economy and market would respond to a new political landscape and prospective policy changes. Now entering the third month of the year, we’ve seen the markets begin to digest recent data releases suggesting some downside risks to the […]
By Ryan Miles, Senior Investment Adviser | Managing Director, Greg Johnson, Senior Municipal Advisor, and Stephen Broden, Senior Arbitrage Consultant | Director of Arbitrage Consulting Effective Bond Proceeds Management Whenever tax-exempt debt is issued for a new project, it’s important to develop an investment strategy that coincides with the anticipated spend down of proceeds. Given […]
Nick Anhut, Senior Municipal Advisor Kayla Thorpe, Associate Municipal Advisor Key Considerations & Best Practices As many municipalities develop and execute financing plans for their capital projects, one of the most important steps is preparing for and undertaking the credit rating call. Regardless of a proposed borrowing’s size or scope, thoughtfully preparing for the rating […]
By Brian Reilly, CFA – Senior Municipal Advisor | Managing Director The Impacts of Eliminating the Tax-Exempt Status of Municipal Bonds In mid-January of last year, a roughly 50-page document leaked into the public sphere that originated from Republican staff members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. This document set forth a list […]
By Brian Johnson, Director of Investment Services The Year In Review As 2024 comes to an end, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on how certain economic and geopolitical events shaped the capital markets over the past year. Several key events took place over the past 12 months, including the Federal Reserve’s Federal […]
By Ryan Miles, Senior Investment Adviser | Managing Director Best Practices for Evaluating Banking Relationships Governmental entities are responsible for a significant amount of public funds, making the selection and evaluation of banking relationships a critical aspect of sound financial operations. The choice of a banking partner impacts not only the safety and accessibility of […]
By Keith Dahl, Municipal Advisor Stacie Kvilvang, Senior Municipal Advisor Assessing Requests for Public Assistance for Economic Development Projects Communities across Minnesota and Wisconsin receive financial assistance requests from developers to construct several different types of projects. These may include affordable housing, senior housing, market rate housing, corporate offices, manufacturing warehouses, research and development facilities, […]
By Shelby McQuay, Senior Municipal Advisor | Managing Director Aaron Bushberger, Municipal Advisor School Districts Reflect on Achieving Referendum Success The November 2023 election provided mixed results for Minnesota school districts requesting operating referendums, capital project levies, and bond referendums. These elections came on the heels of two years of record inflation, additional funding and […]
