MuniNet Guide Archive
Infrastructure Digest: Investments and Policy in Our Cities and States
MuniNet Guide provides some of the more notable news stories relating to state and local infrastructure investments, involving transportation, environmental sustainability, energy, and economic development. High-Speed Rail Board to Weigh in on Revised...
Healthcare Organization Issues Billion Dollar Revenue Bonds
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 04/25/2016 This week's featured municipal bond comes from Ascension Health, a faith-based healthcare organization based in Missouri, is scheduled to issue a $1,855 million revenue bond, secured by pledged revenues under...
Is Chapter 9 the Best Resolution Mechanism for Financially Distressed Schools or Are There Better Alternatives? – PART TWO
STATE MONITORING, OVERSIGHT, INTERVENTION, REFINANCING AND, IF NECESSARY, DISSOLUTION OF FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED SCHOOL DISTRICT by James E. Spiotto* This is Part Two of the two part series on the alternatives available to a financially distressed school...
Conference Focus: Participatory Budgeting Project 2016
Participatory budgeting injects direct democracy into the public budgeting process. Part of a government's budget is set aside, and its use it to solely be decided by public vote. Citizens nominate prospective projects, and vote on which projects are funded. The...
Texas Transportation Commission Issues $615 Million in Highway Improvement Bonds
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 04/18/2016 The Texas Transportation Commission is scheduled to issue a $615 million bond, backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Texas, the week of April 18, 2016. The Commission has issued and preliminary...
Is Chapter 9 the Best Resolution Mechanism for Financially Distressed Schools or Are There Better Alternatives? – PART ONE
Why Financially Distressed School Districts Have Wisely Chosen Not to File Chapter 9 Bankruptcy by James E. Spiotto* This is Part One of a two part series on the alternatives available to a financially distressed school district. This series is taken from a...
Conference Focus: National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) 33rd Annual Conference
Featured Conference MuniNet is kicking off our Featured Conference series with a look at the Annual Conference for the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, taking place May 3-6, 2016, in Chicago, IL. Chartered in 1983, the NFMA is a not-for-profit organization...
Slow Descent: How Economic and Regulatory Factors Are Changing the Regional Airline Industry and the Potential Effect on the Nation’s Airports
by Peter Stettler Over the past ten to 15 years the major domestic network airlines have relied on regional airline partners to efficiently serve smaller and mid-sized airports across the nation. Lately the advantages of the regional airline model have begun to wane...
Orlando Health Scheduled to Issue Large Negotiated Bond
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 04/11/2016 Orlando Health, a nor-for-profit health organization and network based in the Orlando, FL area, is scheduled to issue a negotiated $72 million bond the week of April 11, 2016. The organization has issued and...
Court Review of Public Pension Reform: The Latest Ruling Emphasizes Consensual Agreement Over Legislatively Mandated Changes
by James E. Spiotto* Over the last eight years, over 45 states and numerous local governments have instituted some form of pension reform which many times included increasing contributions and reducing benefits. Over the last four years, there have been over 18 state...
Metro Area Unemployment Numbers Show Improvement
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its metropolitan area unemployment figures for February 2016. Over 76% of the distinct metro areas (296 of 387) have improved over the year of February 2015 to February 2016. The lowest ranked metro area was Burlington-South...
Worth the Walk: Investments in Active Transportation Infrastructure Provide Local Economic Benefits.
by Jeffrey L Garceau Residents of many major cities have become accustomed to seeing bicycle lanes on their streets and bicycle sharing services popping up in their neighborhoods, in an attempt to accommodate and foster non-motorized travel. People with concerns about...
San Francisco Scheduled for Bond to Update Infrastructure
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 04/04/2016 The City and County of San Francisco has been undergoing a strong effort to replace its aging and inadequate water infrastructure for some time. In order to keep the efforts moving, an competitive issue of new...
Maryland County Issuing Large Competitive Bond
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 03/28/2016 Ann Arundel County Maryland is looking to schedule an issue this week for a new $285 million competitive general obligation bond for the week of March 28, 2016. The county has issued a preliminary official...
Where the Greenbacks Grow: State Income Changes in 2015
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its figures of changes in state income for calendar year 2015. The aggregate change of income for the U.S. in 2015 was an increase of 4.4% The release shows how much a state’s income has risen or fallen from the end...
Florida School District Moving to Refinance Bonds
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 03/21/2016 The School Board of Broward County Florida is looking to schedule an issue this week for a new $214 million certificate of participation bond for the week of March 21, 2016. The district has issued a...
Where are the Jobs? State Unemployment Performance in 2015
by Jeffrey L Garceau The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released their 2015 survey report of state employment figures. This survey serves to report unemployment figures for each state plus the District of Columbia, as well as employment-population ratios. MuniNet...
Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Wants to Help You Invest, Properly.
by Jeffrey L Garceau The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) is making an effort to provide resources for non-professional investors in municipal bonds, as well as state and local bond issuers and dealers. Their publication, Ways to Buy Municipal Bonds, packs...
Laboratories of Democracy: Oregon’s Mileage-Tax
by Jeffrey L Garceau In 2006, MuniNet Guide featured an article on a pilot program in Oregon testing an alternative means of taxing drivers for using Oregon’s roads. The participants had a global positioning device installed in their car, which determined the mileage...
The Democracy Experiment: Will the Controversial New California Law Loosen the Voter Registration Process?
By Jeffrey L Garceau California’s New Motor Voter Act, passed into law last October, makes it the second state to implement an opt-out system for voter registration. In March 2015, Oregon became the first state to pass such a law. All other states require specific...
Mapping Prosperity in America’s Cities
By Jeffrey L Garceau Moving the nation’s economy forward is a joint effort of governments and business at all levels. Municipal efforts on the whole do not get enough national attention. By building strong communities and cities, we make our country stronger....
Written Statement of James E. Spiotto to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
By James Spiotto United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Problems: Examining the Source and Exploring the Solution Is Chapter 9 Bankruptcy the Ultimate Remedy for Financially Distressed Territories and Sovereigns Such as Puerto...
Congress’s Role in Saving Puerto Rico from Financial Meltdown and Imminent Bankruptcy
by James Spiotto On December 1, 2015, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on whether and how best to assist Puerto Rico and its related municipalities and public corporations now facing severe financial challenges and economic distress....
How Is Your State’s Economy Trending — Leaders and Laggards – 2nd Quarter Results
November 20, 2015 By Bradford Langs The U.S. economic recovery is in its sixth year, although this recovery has been deemed modest at best. In fact, the Fed has not raised rates in nearly ten years, but may be positioning for its first rate hike at the December...
Change Doesn’t Come Easy for Municipal Bond Audit Timing
by Richard A. Ciccarone Despite serious jawboning by market participants and a spotlight on a spate of municipal credit problems since 2010, Merritt Research Services' latest and most expansive study to date, using financial reports from 2014, continues to show that...