A Bond is a debt instrument representing a loan from an investor or group of investors to a corporate or governmental entity with a promise to repay at specified intervals with agreed upon interest rates and terms.

Depending on the size, complexity, and purpose of a particular Bond issue, Bonds may be sold in a variety of ways, including public offerings, private placements, or in some situations, Bonds may even be Self-Purchased by the issuing entity.

Issuing a Bond can often involve bringing together an entire financing team consisting of a Municipal Advisor, Bond Counsel, Underwriter, Disclosure Counsel, Rating Agency, Bond Insurer, Registrar/Paying Agent, Verification Agent, Feasibility Consultant, Escrow Agent, etc. The first step is to contact a qualified Municipal Advisor who can coordinate the efforts of the parties involved.

A fiduciary duty is a legal obligation to act in the best interest of another entity. The fiduciary agent is required to employ a duty of care and a duty of loyalty to the issuer. In a municipal Bond transaction, municipal advisors are the only entity which serves in a fiduciary capacity to the issuing entity.

Underwriter's Spread or Underwriter's discount refers the fees paid to a broker-dealer/underwriting firm for completing a municipal bond transaction and may be comprised of Underwriter's Expenses, Management Fees, Takedown Fees, and Risk or Residual Fees. While this spread is typically disclosed to issuing entities at the time of sale, often times the greater cost of financing from a debt service perspective comes from the interest that is paid over the life of the financing. Unlike Municipal Advisors, underwriter's do not have fiduciary duty to the issuer and are therefore, not required to act in the issuer's best interests.

Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) entities have borrowing options available to them to complete projects. These options may be more limited than non-PTELL entities depending on the nature of the financing, the revenue streams available for repayment, and the issuer's Debt Service Extension Base (DSEB.)

For PTELL entities, the Debt Service Extension Base (DSEB) is the maximum amount that may be levied on an annual basis for the repayment of many types of Bonds. Certain types of Bonds do not count against the DSEB including: voted on General Obligation (GO) Bonds, Alternate Revenue Bonds, Health, Life, Safety, Bonds.

A voting process which requires over 50% of the voters to approve a General Obligation Debt prior to issuance.

A call date is the first available date after which Bonds may be redeemed or refunded prior to maturity.

An Advance Refunding is when Bonds are sold to refund existing debt prior to 90 days in advance of a call date. If working with tax-exempt debt, the refunding must be completed on a taxable basis, and the proceeds are placed in an escrow until the call date when the existing debt is fully defeased.

A Non-Callable Bond is a debt that may not be redeemed prior to maturity at the option of the issuing entity.

Generally speaking, debt issued for capital purposes may be sold on a tax-exempt basis, whereas debt issued for operational purposes must be sold taxably. Since an investor who purchases tax-exempt debt gains the tax benefit on the interest earnings - they in turn are willing to offer a lower interest rate to the issuing entity to purchase this debt.

SEC Rule 15(c)(2)-12 requires districts to provide certain disclosures to an electronic repository hosted by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) called the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA.) Many entities are required to file an annual report to provide information relevant to investors. Finally, there is a list of “reportable events” that entities are required to disclose should any of them occur.

Arbitrage with respect to securities generally applies when tax-exempt Bond proceeds are invested and earning a higher rate of return of interest than the corresponding Bonds are paying. This situation can create tax or rebate implications even for tax-exempt organizations.

Treasuries offered by the Federal Government that set interest rates at allowable levels to avoid arbitrage constraints.

For an issuer who sells less than $10M in tax-exempt Bonds in a calendar year, the Bonds carry an additional designation of Bank Qualification. This designation assists in obtaining investors and can help lower the interest rate paid by the issuer on the debt.

Premium is often sold in public offerings and occurs when the offering price of a security exceeds its par value. Premium is generated when the stated interest rate is higher than the yield (market demand.)

A Bond which is selling for face value. The stated interest rate = yield, and no premium is generated by the sale.

Bond Yield is the actual economic benefit an investor demands in order to be willing to purchase a security or other debt.

The Levy year is the year in which the property tax levy is based off of. This Levy is typically collected in the following calendar year.

Many public entities use a fiscal year-end that is different from the calendar year-end. While a calendar year ends on December 31, many public entities in Illinois operate under a fiscal year-end of June 30. This can provide confusion for business officials in that the levy year is often a year prior to a calendar year, which is often a year prior to a fiscal year. If you have a question about the timing of a certain debt of your district please get in touch.

Standards for preparing financial statements as required by the governmental accounting standards board (GASB.) In Illinois, other than Cook County, school districts are required to prepare financial statements in accordance with the accounting standards as promulgated by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE.) Ironically, these school districts receive an adverse opinion with respect to GAAP every year as the ISBE standards do not conform to the GAAP standards.

Bonds are typically sold using a 360 day year, 30 day month interest calculation. While there is some flexibility with the repayment terms depending on the type of debt and the purchaser, the most common payment terms are semi-annual payments of interest and annual payments of principal. The maturity date refers to the date on which principal is due on a debt.

For public offerings, typically an issuing entity will secure a Bond rating from a rating company. The rating agency then assigns an underlying rating to the issuer. Often times Bond insurance is obtained to enhance this underlying rating. The credit rating provides an indication to the investor as to the risk associated with purchasing the security. Generally speaking, the higher the credit rating, the lower the interest rate the issuer is able to achieve.

Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) refers to the taxable value of a particular property. To calculate the property tax revenue generated by a taxing body, take the EAV and multiply it by the tax rate of the particular entity.

The total taxable value (EAV) of all properties located within a taxing body's borders.

A taxing body may choose reduce property tax levies on existing debt by paying for all or a portion of the debt with a different revenue stream other than the Levy. In Illinois, Alternate Revenue Bonds are supposed to be abated every year rather than levied. Several other types of Bonds may be abated if the issuing entity has other available revenue streams for the repayment.

There are a variety of ways of paying for Bonds. The most common in Illinois is to Levy for the Bonds via a separate Bond and Interest Levy on all District residents. However, there are financing options available that do not increase property taxes if another revenue stream is available for the repayment. Additional strategies can be employed to help minimize the tax rate impact of issuing Bonds by looking for opportunities where existing debt is paying off, restructuring existing debt, or adjusting other levies to accommodate Bond payments.