Uncovering City Pension Plans That Signal When They "Crossover" Into Running Out of Money to Cover Benefits

In this new report we examine cities to identify which retirement plans have disclosed “Crossover” Years and what factors may increase this list in the near future. Investortools’ Merritt Research Services advocates for our clients, and we believe pension liability assessment is critical to credit evaluation.  (...)

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

Which Municipal Bond Issuers Have the Speediest Audit Times?

Interest groups ranging from bond investors to government watchdogs to regulators have regularly called for faster audit times from municipal bond issuers. Timely audit reporting is essential for credit evaluation and proper pricing in the municipal bond market and is an important indicator of good governance and stewardship. Merritt Research Services, in partnership with the Government Finance Research Center at at the University of Illinois Chicago offers an overview of historic audit time trends, and recognizes 2020’s timeliest audits. (...)

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

Tracking Municipalities’ Reliance on Top Taxpayers - Exploring Commercial Real Estate Positions in 33 Major U.S. Cities

Commercial real estate properties—especially office and hospitality spaces located in downtown central business districts—are among the top generators of property tax revenue for cities across the country. Yet over the past two years, COVID-19-related disruptions have cast a pall on downtown real estate. Vacancy rates are running well above historical averages and commercial, retail, and hotel occupancy traffic is down considerably. The full report is available via the following link. (...)

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

As Municipal Bond Rates Fall to Historic Lows and Issuers Deleverage Bonds, the Age-Old Infrastructure Problem Worsens

Merritt Research Service’s Richard Ciccarone takes an in-depth look at the numbers in CreditScope to examine the seemingly never-ending infrastructure crisis in America and how the municipal bond market hasn’t kept pace with what needs to be done. The full report is available via the following link. (...)

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

Merritt Research Services Recognizes Municipal Bond Issuers with Fastest Audit Times

Since 2007, Merritt Research Services has been tracking the time it takes for municipal bond related audits to be completed and signed after the close of the fiscal year end.  Based upon the number of days between the close of the fiscal year and the date of the Independent Auditor’s Report signature, some municipal bond issuers clearly stand out from the crowd. In this report, we recognize the municipal bond borrowers who rise above their peers, completing their audits in a significantly timelier manner than the majority. The full report is available via the following link. (...)

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

Chronically Late Municipal Bond Audits Further Delayed in FY 2018

Merritt Research Service’s Richard Ciccarone takes an in-depth look at chronically late municipal bond issuer audit times by credit sector and individual obligated borrowers. The full report, with a detailed statistical appendix that includes actual best and worst audit report times by sector, is available via the link below.   The analysis  provides a credit sector historical breakdown and covers fiscal years 2008 to 2018. The report points to municipal borrowers that have a track record of completing their audits in 90 or 120 days providing positive evidence that the muni...

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

Investortools Announces the Acquisition of Merritt Research Services

Premier solutions provider for fixed-income PMs, traders, credit analysts and more is now home to Merritt, the industry-leading data and research source on thousands of municipal borrowers  CHICAGO (November 18, 2019) – Investortools, Inc., the leading provider of software-based solutions for fixed-income portfolio management, trading, compliance, credit analysis, and benchmark risk analysis, announced today that it has acquired Merritt Research Services, LLC (“Merritt”), the premier source for financial data in the municipal space. “Merritt and Investortools have always been...

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Category: News

Merritt President and CEO, Richard A. Ciccarone Updates Annual Municipal Bond Audit Times Analysis

Municipal bond analysts and investors are accustomed to waiting a lot longer for municipal bond financial audits to be completed after the close of the fiscal year than they would on a corporate bond.  While public corporations are required to file an annual audit within 60 to 90 days after the close of the year, municipal bond borrowers often finish their audited annual reports in close to twice that time and a large number take even much longer (...)

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data, Article

Merritt Expands Database to Include Additional Credits

We are happy to share the results of our continued efforts to improve the depth and breadth of our tax-backed offering. Effective this month, we are officially adding approximately 100 of the more significant (in terms of debt issuance) Dedicated Tax Credits for inclusion to the standard data set.  Please look for this expanded dataset in your data update. To verify that your system has been appropriately updated, you may check under the [Help] button on the main menu and select [About CreditScope]. Look for a "Credit data date" of 10/05/2018 or later.

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

What End-Users Should Expect for GASB 67/68 in CreditScope – Part Three

As reported in Part Two, we have been busy making necessary database modifications to implement the GASB 67/68 reporting standards into our data set.  Initially, we provided pension-related data fields to accommodate both Single/Multi-Employer Agent plans and the Multi-Employer Cost Sharing plans for the City, County and School District sectors.  In Part Two, we provided pension-related data fields to accommodate both Single/Multi-Employer Agent plans and the Multi-Employer Cost Sharing plans for the State sector. We are now pleased to be providing a break out of Multi-Employer...

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Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

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