Anne Pelej Speaks on Arbitrage Rebate at CDIAC Seminar

The California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC) held their annual "Mechanics of a Bond Sale" seminar in San Diego March 22-23, 2007. For the second year in a row, Anne Pelej was invited to speak on the topic of arbitrage rebate. The session she presented, Understanding Arbitrage, was not only well received, but ranked number one out of the eight sessions offered during the two-day program.

Attendees, representing various city, county, and state level municipalities, were looking to "sharpen concepts in public finance" and "learn the basics of debt issuance". The majority of participants had between 1-4 years experience in public financing and represented all positions within the Finance and Treasury departments.

In addition to ranking MuniFinancial's presentation as the top session, the surveys contained the following quotes:

• "Arbitrage should be a seminar by itself."
• "For some reason the arbitrage section really struck a chord with me this time. I decided I need to do a spreadsheet to track all of our debt issues and arbitrage history, so the next person who takes my job is provided essential information without the daunting task of trying to recreate it from old records. which is what I'm going to have to do to do my spreadsheet."
• "It was all very worthwhile. I particularly liked the segment on legal documents and arbitrage. I thought they gave me the most practical information."

Next up, Ms. Pelej will present a session at the CDIAC "Living with a Bond Issue" seminar in Long Beach covering Arbitrage Rebate and Continuing Disclosure Reporting and Compliance Monitoring.

added April 17, 2007

Cal-ICMA's New Branding Campaign

On March 19, 2007, Cal-ICMA announced the launch of a new Branding Campaign to Attract Young People to Local Government Service".  For more details, click here.

added March 20, 2007

Tax Rate Study

MuniFinancial completes study to determine special tax rates in Selma, CA.  Please review The Selma Enterprise article for more information.

added October 27, 2006

MuniFinancial is pleased to announce that we oppose Proposition 90 - the "Taxpayer Trap Initiative" that would impose billions in new costs for California taxpayers, and limit the ability of local communities to protect their local quailty of life, protect the environment, and address community needs such as schools and traffic congestion relief.

added September 2006

Why Plans Fail

American Homeland Solutions President & CEO Ken Bayless will lead a presentation on emergency preparedness and why plans fail at the Annual League of California Cities Conference in San Diego. The event is scheduled for Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 11:30 a.m. in the Exhibitors Speaker's Theater in Hall 'F' on the Exhibition Floor in the San Diego Convention Center. For more information, click here.

added September 1, 2006

Cal-ICMA Coaching

MuniFinancial is now sponsoring Cal-ICMA’s coaching program. We are underwriting the podcasting feature of the telephone coaching sessions: a new feature, which allows the flexibility of downloading these sessions through iTunes, Yahoo and other commonly used online aggregation services. Each discussion includes input and allows for discussion from Senior Managers, Department Heads, City Managers and County Executives. This new feature enables future leaders to easily access the help and training that will allow them to become successful professionals.

For more information, go to the Cal-ICMA podcast webpage.

Designing Water Rates and Communicating Increases

On February 23, 2006, Brian Jewett and Sanjay Gaur led a presentation at the 2006 CSMFO Annual Conference held in Palm Springs, California. The seminar, titled “How to Design Fiscally Sound Water Rates and Communicate Rate Increases to Your Customers”, was well-received by more than 100 conference participants representing public agencies from across the state. During the presentation, Mr. Jewett and Mr. Gaur explained the nuts and bolts of water rate setting and how to effectively communicate rate increases to the public. Topics included the use of sound methodologies associated with water rate analysis (revenue requirement, cost allocation and rate design); ensuring equity within customer classes while enhancing fiscal sustainability for a water enterprise; a detailed discussion of the Proposition 218 guidelines for rate increases; and tips for communicating rate increases to agency customers and minimizing “rate shock”. Rounding out the presentation panel was Mr. Mark Delin, Fiscal Services Manager for the San Diego County Water Authority, who acted as moderator for this presentation.

MuniFinancial is pleased to announce a new addition to our website. To further support the needs that Issuers of bonded debt have for information regarding IRS and SEC Enforcement and Regulatory change, MuniFinancial is now posting the articles we prepare for newsletters and white papers to our website. Please click here to be linked to our Articles - Federal Compliance page.

In August 2005, Mr. Frank Tripepi, President and CEO of MuniFinancial, was appointed to serve on the Cal-ICMA Nominations and Governance Committee. For more information on ICMA, click the following link: ICMA.org

In January 2005, Mr. Frank Tripepi, President and CEO of MuniFinancial, was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Urban Water Institute. For more information on the Urban Water Institute, click the following link: