The Bond Buyer recently featured Richard Ciccarone in two articles. As President Emeritus of Merritt Research Service LLC, an Investortools Company, Richard has contributed research-driven insights to the municipal finance sector for over four decades.
In the article “Illinois’ 2023 ACFR may become latest ever filed by state,” Richard highlights concerns over delayed state financial audits. Specifically noting Illinois and Nevada as examples, Ciccarone warns that the prolonged release of these audits compromises investors’ ability to accurately evaluate bonds in a timely manner. He comments saying, “The fresher [an audit] is, the greater the ability to act with the existing players to catch something that you need to, or take some initiative for a new course.” Richard has tracked states’ audit timeliness since 2010 and recently partnered with the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago to further analyze the issue. The 2023 audit timing report can be accessed below.
In the article “Midwest trails the nation’s 2024 muni bond sale explosion,” Richard highlights the region’s slower pace of new bond issuance compared to the rest of the country, even though 2024 marks the highest Midwest issuance in the last four years. He also notes that the Midwest’s relatively conservative debt levels provide room for further borrowing. He provides additional context saying, “There was also a sharp decrease in the percentage of variable-rate debt, which suggests lower confidence that interest rates are going lower.”
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