Ehlers builds strong, long-lasting client relationships – working directly and collaboratively with you – to help plan and complete projects that provide generational benefits for school district students, families and taxpayers. We:

• Assign multiple advisors to each relationship
• Deliver hands-on expertise, direct school district experience and full continuity of Ehlers’ team service
• Listen carefully to understand challenges & uncover opportunities
• Complete thorough analyses and help you choose the best approach

Our advisors have more than 125 years of combined school finance expertise, leveraging deep market knowledge, strong relationships with the rating agencies, and industry best practices to proactively guide clients on bond referendum planning and support, and debt issuance. We collaborate with district clients to help ensure the following factors are incorporated into every debt issue:

• Financing options & feasibility
• Current indebtedness & future capital plans
• Tax impact
• Refunding opportunities

When an anticipated budget shortfall has your district searching for solutions, look to Ehlers’ School Finance Team for operating referendum planning and support. We equip you with the following knowledge and data to help objectively educate your voters:

• Projected revenue per pupil
• Tax implications
• State aid & levy components

With voter approval, school districts can establish a capital project account funded by an annual tax levy. Often referred to as a “technology levy,” capital project levies provide an annual stream of revenue to fund a long-term technology plan. Capital project levies can also fund deferred maintenance, building projects or any other expense permitted for operating capital funds. Ehlers’ services to support your district’s capital project levy include:

• Revenue projections
• Levy option analysis
• Review and comment process, if applicable
• Tax impacts

Ehlers’ financial modeling tools can provide you with well-informed data to help with annual budgets, facilities forecasting and referendum planning. Our enrollment projections and budget models are interactive, “living documents” that help you weigh many factors and “what-if” scenarios, such as:

• Enrollment determinations, including kindergarten and open enrollment projections
• Current and future facilities needs
• Anticipated state funding, existing operating levies, current and projected operating expenses

Know exactly where you’re going by paying close attention to where you – and others – have been! Ehlers’ comparative analytics tools can help your district improve financial operations and efficiencies by:

• Generating multi-factor comparisons across all aspects of school operations
• Understanding how your district compares to neighboring or like-sized districts
• Providing unbiased decision-making data

Complying with Truth in Taxation hearing requirements is easier with the professional support of Ehlers’ School Finance Team. We will gather all the information needed to prepare and deliver a presentation that fulfills the State of Minnesota’s requirements.