Deposit Collateralization It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Business. By Brian Reilly, CFA Senior Municipal Advisor | Managing Director In our prior Newsletter, we showcased the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and used it as a cautionary tale of why public funds depositors should ensure the funds they hold with depository institutions are not subject […]

By Brian Reilly, CFA – Senior Municipal Advisor | Managing Director and Tami Olszewski, CPFIM – Senior Investment Adviser Understanding the SVB Failure and Protecting Public Deposits Imagine it’s 1946 and you’re on the set of “It’s a Wonderful Life” …Depositors confront George Bailey outside the Bailey Building & Loan, demanding their money be returned. […]

By Matt Tourville, Investment Adviser Buckle Up!  It’s a Bumpy Ride… Since the calendar turned to 2023, the market’s gaze has been fixated on largely one thing: inflation and the Federal Reserve’s actions to conquer it. When Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, March 7th, he was clear about […]

By Dan Tienter, Municipal Advisor Turning Numbers Into Knowledge To quote the philosopher Plato: “A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” In defense of numbers, we might amend the statement slightly and say, “A good decision should be based on more than basic numbers.” So, how do public organizations use their […]

By Lisa Hayes, Leadership Consultant Through-the-Hayes The Foundation of Strong Communication Skills The phrase “Executive Presence” gets talked about a lot in the professional world. If you Google it, you will see over 381,000,000 results (yes, that’s millions and it changes often!). Some of these results are articles on what it is, why you need […]

By Greg Johnson, Senior Municipal Advisor and Keith Dahl, Municipal Advisor Best Practices for Tax Incremental Finance Districts Municipalities across the country, just like every other sector of the economy in today’s environment, are burdened by rising costs. Operating budgets used to finance day-to-day operations, pay obligations, and maintain public infrastructure place upward pressure on […]

By Aaron Bushberger, Municipal Advisor Springfield Public Schools combines strong planning & community engagement to complete successful bond referendum… Ask Keith Kottke, Superintendent of Springfield Public Schools, how he’s doing, and he’ll likely say, “Rock Solid!” with an upbeat tone. “Rock solid” could also describe the District’s planning, community engagement and ability to pivot so […]

By Greg Johnson, Senior Municipal Advisor and Jonathan Schatz, Municipal Advisor Completing Capital Projects in a Rising Interest Rate Environment It’s an immutable fact: capital assets are fundamental to the nature of almost all governmental entities. Even as the world evolves to different delivery and social models to live, work, learn, and play. Our governmental […]

Where Were We A Year Ago? “No one knows with any certainty where the economy will be a year or more from now,” stated Fed Chair Jerome Powell in December 2021 press conference. He was right about that. To say a lot has changed in the bond market this year would be a major understatement…changes […]

By Stephen Broden Senior Arbitrage Consultant | Managing Director With New Opportunity Comes Strict Responsibility It’s said that patience is a virtue.  We could understand if those patiently waiting for higher investment rates had stopped holding their proverbial breath over the past decade, or so.  Alas, that moment has finally arrived.  Rising interest rates on […]