Municipal Law

If you have financing responsibilities for municipal finance for assistance with bonds sold by underwriters, bonds placed with governmental agencies and local banks, bonds offered in public sales, bonds rated by national rating agencies, and insured bonds, your bond issue will be handled with the same effectiveness that we have brought to the financings of major municipalities and counties and the State of Arkansas.
Whether your organization’s needs relate to new money issues, refunding, or a combination of the two, you can rely on our transactional experience with state and local bonds, general obligation financings, water and sewer bonds, municipal utility financings, airport financings, and numerous similar transactions. When you engage us as counsel on any issue, you can count on us to draft all documents relating to authorization, sale, and delivery. We also offer full assistance on sales and property tax elections, and when a bond issue requires voter approval. This includes the preparation of the necessary ordinances, ballot, notices, and other documents required under state law, and we also offer advice on election and bond procedures.

In the highly competitive real estate market, our tax law expertise positions our firm as a key player at the local tax level. We excel at helping clients with tax issues that particularly relate to real estate transactions, such as reducing tax burdens through the use of like-kind exchanges. When necessary, we can challenge local tax assessments on your behalf, particularly if there is a need to challenge a contingency ad valorem property tax assessment. Other state or local tax controversies that we can assist you with include sales and use tax audits and disputes.

Economic development financing is a complex undertaking that combines tax incentives with government tax-exempt bond financing for infrastructure projects, including roads, sewers, and public utilities. We play a central role in facilitating economic development bond financing for business and government throughout Arkansas. You benefit from our experience in hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development financing transactions. That includes work as counsel to issuers and underwriters on various financing vehicles, such as industrial development revenue bonds, special assessment bonds, and special source revenue credits and bonds. Businesses rely on our expertise in working with municipalities, and we are particularly effective at developing incentive vehicles that combine financing from multiple public and private sources.

Our firm is a leader in bond financing for Arkansas school districts, representing underwriters and issuers as fiscal agents on behalf of the districts themselves. Much of our work is oriented to bond issues to finance school construction. We also offer a wide range of services to district administrators and boards of education, including employee benefits advice and courtroom representation in employment, desegregation, and other litigated matters.