The principals of Commonwealth Economics have over 40 years of combined experience in bond issuance and analysis. Commonwealth Economics provides a significant value to municipalities of any size. We provide detailed analyses and unique insights into their financial health and offer guidance and recommendations that allow them to improve their financial health over the long term, alleviate current financial stress, finance public projects, and grow business in their local/regional economy.

The Partners at Commonwealth Economics have considerable experience in guiding businesses through multiple State offered incentive programs, including: Kentucky Business Investment, Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, and the Tourism Development Act which encourage economic development, business expansion, and job creation. We often provide industry leaders with detailed analyses and unique insights into their business plans and offer guidance and recommendations on how financial assistance and tax credits can be realized from specific programs. Learn more about Kentucky Business Incentive Programs.

As Secretary of Finance, John R. Farris helped draft the State’s new TIF law in 2007. TIF is a form of economic incentive, which uses the increase in local and state tax revenues generated on a development footprint (the increment) to finance certain costs of the project. We have extensive experience in guiding municipalities and developers through the TIF approval process in order to promote economic development that is mutually beneficial to both the municipalities and the developers involved in the creation of the proposed project. Learn more about TIF.

Commonwealth Economics is a leader in developing the following types of reports and analyses for clients in the public and private sector: economic impact analyses, market analyses, fiscal analyses, and feasibility studies. Our clients include public and private universities, private companies, municipalities, economic development organizations, and non-profits. Our résumé includes impact analyses developed for a number of different clients, which range from the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to Morris County, NJ. In these studies, we typically analyze the economic and fiscal impact associated with a given project or event. In our analyses, we often use IMPLAN and other statistical models to calculate the various economic and fiscal impacts.

Commonwealth Economics utilizes Public-Private Partnerships, otherwise referred to as “P3s”, to help meet the increasing needs for its clients involved with transportation, human services, housing and economic development. This mutual relationship between the public and private sectors often leads to more affordable and effective project delivery than the traditional path which involves the government hiring a private company to handle a specific task. The benefits can be seen among many of the development stages of the project including financing, operations, timing, affordability and growth.

We advise educational institutions on various economic development and financial matters including: alternative financing structure analysis, bond advisory services, tax-exempt infrastructure bonds, securitization, best practices analysis (university foundation structuring, bonding requirements, etc.), stadium and arena financial feasibility analysis, negotiations with municipalities and other government bodies, etc.

Commonwealth Economics has considerable experience structuring project finance within complicated financial frameworks. We have serviced projects that draw on several sources of capital at once, ranging from government funding, to bank debt, to private capital markets, and beyond. CE’s principals possess a keen understanding of these capital markets, and use their experience to seek the lowest cost of capital, while bringing all parties to the table in a way that will ultimately get a project financed. As an example, our capital structuring advice has been used by universities to develop stadiums and arenas and by developers to line up financing for complex projects.