Municipal Advisory

When working as financial advisor, The Baker Group takes a comprehensive approach, working as a dedicated partner to implement the right financial solutions for our municipal clients.

Our municipal advisory services include:

• Current debt structure analysis
• Primary debt issuance
• Refunding analysis
• Future cash flow, budget, and credit analysis
• Access to one of the nation’s largest independent municipal credits databases
• Municipal peer performance comparison
• Current and prospective economic presentations

The Baker Group’s approach in fulfilling its fiduciary obligations to municipal clients when serving as a municipal advisor includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. A thorough understanding of the municipality’s debt profile, including history of bringing bonds to market on both competitive and negotiated underwritings, the types of structures used in prior financings, analysis of best practices for the structures, economic considerations regarding the municipality’s future debt issuance needs, and refunding analysis.
2. Credit analysis of the municipality’s current, prior, and projected financial position. This includes access to The Baker Group’s proprietary Municipal Credits Database covering 24,512 unique obligors residing in 2,837 counties in the United States for peer analysis, credit ratings presentations, and internal analysis.
3. Tax adequacy and capacity analysis, applying stress test analysis over a range of changes in interest rates, economic conditions, and demographics.
4. In-depth knowledge of the municipality’s capital planning considerations, including budget analysis, funding schedules, public funds and bond proceeds investment management, and federal arbitrage rebate compliance.
5. Education for all applicable municipal officials on a wide range of economic, financial, and capital markets issues relevant to the issuance and management of the city’s debt position.
6. Council/board presentations tailored to the unique needs of the council/board members for budget discussions, capital planning, etc.
7. A review of current policies and procedures for compliance with relevant federal and state regulatory requirements pertaining to the issuance of municipal securities.