Consulting

My consulting covers all areas of state and local government budgeting, finance, and financial management. Contact me for references and rates, including requests for pro bono work.

Recent consulting engagements include:

  • "Evaluation of the Risks and Benefits of a State-Chartered, Public Cooperative Bank." This report, commissioned by the Washington State Legislature and administered by the Washington State Office of Financial Management, will examine the advantages and disadvantages of a public cooperative bank serving local units of government in Washington State. It will include analysis of original survey data, legal analysis, and a comprehensive review of the literature on publicly-owned banks.
  • "A Public Finance Analysis of the Seattle Arena Proposals." This project produced a flexible financial model to evaluate the City of Seattle revenue flows from two competing proposals for a professional basketball/hockey arena in Seattle.
  • "Municipal Bonds and Infrastructure Development: Past, Present, and Future." For this report I analyzed the benefit to state and local governments of the federal tax exemption on municipal bonds. Clients: International City/County Management Association and the Government Finance Officers Association." This report was covered by various media outlets, including the Bond Buyer.
  • Governing Guides to Financial Literacy. These publications are a "Public Finance 101" for state and local government officials. Volume 1 covered the fundamental concepts of state and local budgeting, finance, and financial management. Volume 2 focused on measuring and managing government financial health. Volume 3 is about how governments can use "public-private partnerships" to finance major infrastructure projects. Volume 4 is about how to successfully implement public-private partnerships. These Guides are produced by Governing magazine's publisher, e.Republic.
  • MBIS Comparable Securities Service. On behalf of Municipal Bond Information Services (MBIS), I developed a machine learning approach to grouping municipal bonds. This approach produces a range of likely prices on thinly-traded securities. Click here for a paper that outlines the approach. Click here for more on MBIS and the Comparable Securities Service.
  • "Determining and Distributing the Costs of Shared Public Health Services." This report outlines strategies for how to measure and allocate the costs of shared services for local public health agencies. Client: Center for Sharing Public Health Services.
  • "Financial Considerations for the Proposed SODO Arena." In the summer of 2012 I served on a task force assembled by King County (WA) that evaluated a proposal to build a new basketball/hockey arena in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood. My comments here focused mostly on the potential impacts of that transaction on King County's bond rating.
  • "Benefits and Costs of City-City Consolidations." I was part of a team that studied the potential financial implications of consolidating the Tri-Cities of Washington (Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland). Client: Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce.

Past consulting clients include: Public Policy Institute of California; Boston Consulting Group; Governmental Accounting Standards Board; others