December Filing Deadlines “Yule” Regret Missing

With the excitement of the holiday season, finance-related filings may be the last thing on school officials’ priority lists. Please keep in mind two important end-of-the-calendar-year deadlines to stay off the “naughty” list: (1) continuing disclosure and (2) qualified status.

Continuing Disclosure

If your school has outstanding bonds, it likely entered into a continuing disclosure agreement (CDA) when those bonds were issued. A CDA requires school officials to submit certain continuing disclosure documents annually to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Electronic Municipal Market Access System (EMMA). The required documents include the school’s audit and updates to key financial and operating information.

If your school entered into a CDA and the related bonds remain outstanding, school officials must file the annual continuing disclosure documents soon. The annual filing deadline depends on the CDA’s terms, but it typically falls between December 27 and December 31. For Thrun Policy Service subscribers, additional continuing disclosure protocols are addressed in Policy 3212.

We recommend that school officials confirm the filing has been completed before leaving for winter break. If your school works with a disclosure agent (e.g., a financial advisor) to prepare and submit the annual disclosure filings, we recommend that you coordinate with that agent well before the deadline to ensure timely filing.

Qualified Status

In last month’s edition of School Law Notes, we discussed the importance of annually filing the Municipal Finance Qualifying Statement form with the Michigan Department of Treasury by December 31. A successful Qualifying Statement submission gives a school “qualified status” for the upcoming year. Obtaining qualified status allows schools to issue most types of municipal obligations (e.g., bonds, state aid notes, and tax notes) without the delay and additional cost of applying for Treasury pre-approval before each borrowing.

As a service to our retainer and regular finance clients, Thrun Law Firm’s finance attorneys will, at a client’s request and at no additional charge, review a draft Qualifying Statement before filing. Due to the electronic submission process, clients should provide a screenshot of the draft online submission form for review. Clients that wish to take advantage of this service should provide that draft Qualifying Statement by early December to allow adequate time for review.

If your school is denied qualified status for any reason, please contact our office before submitting a request for reconsideration of that denial. Treasury allows only one reconsideration request each year, so it is critical that the reconsideration request be error-free. A flawed reconsideration request may result in a final denial of qualified status for the upcoming calendar year.

Please contact a Thrun finance attorney if you have any questions related to these important deadlines.