January 2013
Inside The Advisor

Ehlers 2013 School Finance Seminar -  

The Ehlers Cruise: Sailing the Seas of School Finance  

by Betsy Knoche, Financial Advisor

 

April 2013  

The voyage begins on Friday, April 5, 2013 at the Ramada Plaza (1330 Industrial Boulevard, Minneapolis). In addition to attending sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to network with colleagues.

 

School finance can sometimes be like sailing through uncharted waters. But when you dive beneath the surface with our experts you just might discover new approaches to familiar topics.

 

Click here to read more presenters and sessions.
Greg Crowe Joins Ehlers Education Team
by Joel Sutter, Senior Financial Advisor/Principal

 

Ehlers is pleased to announce that Greg Crowe has joined the company as a financial advisor on the company's Education Team. Greg is based in our Roseville, MN office and will specialize in services to Minnesota school districts.

 

Click here to continue reading.

Ehlers Budget Projection Model
by Tom Berge, Financial Specialist

 

At Ehlers we strive to provide the tools needed to help school districts better manage financial resources.  The Budget Projection Model is one of those tools.   It is a General Fund financial management tool created to facilitate your management and communication of budget decision-making.

 

Click here to continue reading.

Ehlers Market Commentary

Are you up to date with current market trends? If not, be sure to check out the Ehlers Market Commentary, which is released every other week.   

 

Be sure to sign up to receive your email copy, or read past articles here.   


 

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Greetings!

 

As we begin 2013, we have a number of newsworthy articles in this issue of The Advisor.  

  

Refundings were a popular theme both in our bi-weekly market commentaries and with many of our clients. We'll summarize the savings that some of our clients experienced from refundings in 2012. 

 

Two tax-related articles will touch on the 2013 IRS Work Plan and how federal budget balancing could increase municipal borrowing interest rates. We'll also update you with recent Dodd-Frank events and how they will apply to you.

Finally, the annual Ehlers Education Finance Seminar takes place on Friday, April 5, 2013. Be sure to mark your calendars and look for the brochure and registration information coming soon.  We hope to see you there!
  

Steve Apfelbacher  

Steve Apfelbacher

President and CEO

[email protected]

 

2012: The Year of Refundings  

by Joel Sutter, Senior Financial Advisor/Principal

 

joel sutter 2012 saw investors turn to municipal bonds as a safe and secure investment, driving down yields to historic lows. In November of 2012, we saw the lowest tax-exempt municipal bond yields in 47 years. Over the past year in Ehlers' bi-weekly market commentaries, we regularly chronicled the decline in interest rates and included the common refrain "interest rates reach record lows."

 

Many school districts took advantage of these low rates by refunding their bonds to achieve significant interest savings. 

 

Click here to continue reading.

Dodd-Frank Update 

by Steve Apfelbacher, Senior Financial Advisor/President

 

Steve Apfelbacher In July of 2010, the President signed the Dodd Frank Consumer Protection Act into law. Among many changes, the Act regulated Financial Advisors, like Ehlers, as Municipal Advisors.

While Municipal Advisors are regulated under temporary rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), the final rules have not been established by the MSRB.

 

Click here to continue reading. 

IRS Work Plan

by Gail Robertson , Senior Arbitrage Specialist

 

Gail Robertson The Tax-Exempt Bond (TEB) office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced work plan priorities for 2013. The plan identifies specific measures to be taken by IRS agents over the next year to determine whether issuers of tax-exempt bonds are complying with post-issuance responsibilities. 

 

 

Click here to continue reading.

Federal Budget Balancing Could Increase Municipal Borrowing Interest Rate

by Steve Apfelbacher, Senior Financial Advisor/President

 

Steve Apfelbacher Currently governmental entities are able to issue debt with interest to investors being exempt from federal income taxes. This exemption results in debt interest rates that can be up to 2% lower than comparable taxable interest rates. Congress and the President continue the battle to find an approach to balance the federal budget.

 

Eliminating or capping the exemption of interest for tax exempt debt on individual federal 1040 tax forms are approaches that are being suggested. All of these approaches will result in higher borrowing costs for governmental entities. There are four good reasons not to change the treatment of interest earned on federal tax exemption for municipal bond interest.

   

Click here to continue reading. 

 

The Ehlers Education Team
The Ehlers Education Team includes eight financial advisors - Joel SutterTom Berge, Greg Crowe, Carolyn Drude, Betsy Knoche, Gary Olsen, Jeff Seeley, and Jodie Zesbaugh
- who specialize in assisting Minnesota school districts. These individuals have a combined experience of over 200 years with Minnesota school finance - including experience working for state agencies, the Legislature, Counties, and school districts. We bring the lessons learned from this experience to benefit your District.

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