Public Finance

Strategic Counsel From Calfee’s Public Finance Attorneys

Calfee's Public Finance attorneys cover the entire range of governmental borrowings, from routine general obligation bonds and notes of local cities and villages to projects as complex and unique as the redevelopment of inner-ring suburbs, downtown hotels and parking facilities, student housing, sports facilities, and the transformation of a large public hospital.

Services We Provide

Calfee provides counsel across the full life cycle of public finance transactions, from early project planning to closing and ongoing compliance.

Governmental Borrowings

Our public finance lawyers assist with governmental financings for local, county, state, and regional public entities.

We advise on:

• General obligation bonds
• Bond anticipation notes
• Revenue bonds
• Capital improvement bonds
• Lease purchase and lease revenue structures
• Certificates of participation
• Non-tax revenue bonds
• Grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds
• Public facility financings
• Refunding and refinancing transactions

Infrastructure Finance

Calfee helps public and private clients finance infrastructure projects that support transportation, utilities, development, education, health care, and community growth.

Representative infrastructure projects include:

• Water systems
• Sewer systems
• Roads and streets
• Public buildings
• Utility-scale solar projects
• Airport facilities
• Energy efficiency improvements
• Parking facilities
• Recreation centers
• Administrative buildings
• Police facilities
• Community centers

Tax Increment Financing and Special Assessments

Calfee advises clients on tax increment financing and special assessment structures used to fund public improvements and support private development.

Our experience includes:

• TIF-backed bonds
• Special assessment bonds
• Infrastructure improvement district financing
• Mixed-use development financing
• Hotel and marina development financing
• Site acquisition financing
• Public improvement financing
• Coordination with local governments and development authorities

Public-Private Partnerships

Public-private partnerships can help public entities unlock value, improve infrastructure, and support long-term institutional goals. Calfee advises clients on P3 structures involving public assets, private operators, bond financing, and long-term lease arrangements.

Our P3 work includes:

• University parking asset monetization
• University housing asset monetization
• Energy efficiency improvements
• Public facility redevelopment
• Long-term ground leases
• Lease and concession structures
• Tax-exempt bond financing for P3 projects

Health Care and Hospital Finance

Calfee’s public finance attorneys counsel hospitals and health care systems on tax-exempt bond financings, debt restructuring, asset sales, defeasance, redemption, and related financing matters.

We advise on:

• Hospital revenue bonds
• Joint township hospital district financings
• Tax-exempt health care financings
• Defeasance and redemption of existing debt
• Financing issues tied to hospital asset sales
• Public hospital transformation projects

Higher Education and School Finance

Calfee represents public and private educational institutions in financings involving campus improvements, housing, parking, facilities, and long-term infrastructure needs.

Our work includes:

• College and university bond financings
• Private K-12 school financings
• Student housing projects
• Campus capital improvements
• Academic buildings
• Recreation and athletic facilities
• Parking asset monetization
• Public-private partnership structures

Economic Development Incentives

Calfee assists businesses, developers, and public entities with incentives designed to attract investment, support job creation, and finance major projects.

We advise on:

• Tax abatements
• Governmental loans and grants
• JobsOhio grants
• Port authority financing
• Property tax exemptions
• Sales tax exemptions
• Tax increment financing
• New Markets Tax Credits
• Historic Tax Credits
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
• C-PACE financing coordination
• Economic development agreements

How Our Public Finance Team Can Help

Calfee’s public finance team serves clients in multiple roles across transactions. This broad perspective helps us understand the needs of issuers, borrowers, investors, underwriters, banks, public officials, and project stakeholders. Our attorneys serve our clients in a variety of roles, including:

• Bond Counsel: Helping issuers structure and complete bond and note financings. We advise on legal authority, transaction structure, tax matters, issuance procedures, documentation, closing requirements, and related financing issues.
• Underwriter’s Counsel: Representing underwriters and placement agents in public offerings, private placements, refundings, infrastructure financings, and economic development transactions.
• Disclosure Counsel: Disclosure is a critical part of public finance. We advise clients on official statements, continuing disclosure obligations, material event notices, and disclosure practices designed to support transparent and compliant offerings.
• Issuer’s Counsel: Counseling governmental entities, state agencies, port authorities, counties, municipalities, and other issuers in connection with public finance transactions.
• Borrower’s Counsel: Representing nonprofit organizations, hospitals, schools, universities, developers, manufacturers, and other borrowers using tax-exempt, taxable, conduit, or incentive-based financing.

Bond Counsel Engagements

• City of Cleveland, Ohio
• City of Cincinnati, Ohio
• Treasurer of the State of Ohio
• Ohio Public Facilities Commission
• Ohio Air Quality Development Authority
• Ohio Department of Transportation
• Cuyahoga County, Ohio
• Hamilton County, Ohio
• Trumbull County, Ohio
• Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority
• Lorain County Port Authority
• Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority

Issuer’s Counsel and Disclosure Counsel

• Cuyahoga County, Ohio Water Development Authority
• MetroHealth System

Underwriters’ Counsel

• Ohio Housing Finance Agency
• University of Akron
• Treasurer of the State of Ohio
• Ohio Water Development Authority
• Cleveland Public Power
• Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
• City of Akron
• Kenyon College/Ohio Higher Education Facilities Commission
• Playhouse Square Foundation
• Columbus State College

Borrower’s Counsel

• Jewish Federation of Cleveland
• Summa Health System
• Eliza Jennings Senior Care Network
• Lake Hospital System
• University School

Representative Matters

• Served as underwriter’s counsel for the issuance of approximately $100 million of refunding certificates of participation. This refinancing of a public-private partnership resulted in interest cost savings for taxpayers and levelled debt service for future years, allowing for more stable debt service payments.
• Served as underwriter's counsel for the issuance of special obligation income tax revenue bonds secured by income tax revenues of the municipality to finance a new administrative building, police department and community center. (2025)
• Served as Bond Counsel for an Ohio county for the issuance of General Obligation Capital Improvement Bond Anticipation Notes, allowing the County to fulfill its contractual obligations to pay the costs of major capital improvements to sporting facilities. (2025)
• Served as hospital counsel for the issuance of tax-exempt bonds issued by a joint township hospital district. (2024)
• Served as bond counsel for the issuance of general obligation bonds of the municipality client to finance the construction of improvements to a senior center.
• Represented a hospital system in defeasance and redemption of the hospital system’s existing indebtedness in connection with the sale of all the hospital's assets to a for-profit entity. (2025)
• Served as underwriter's counsel in connection with the issuance of revenue bonds to assist local communities in financing improvements to water systems. (2025)
• Served as university counsel in a public-private partnership for a long-term lease and monetization of the university's housing assess in a matter that involved the upfront payment for a long-term lease financed with the proceeds of tax-exempt bonds. (2025)
• Served as developer counsel in connection with the issuance of bonds to finance a multi-unit residential building made of mass timber in close proximity to a public university. (2025)
• Served as trustee counsel in a matter involving taxable and tax-exempt bonds issued by a port authority for the benefit of a university as part of a public-private partnership to finance energy efficiency improvements throughout the university campus. (2025)
• Served as underwriter's counsel in the sale of refunding bonds for the benefit of an Ohio college, including the refinancing of a line of credit provided to the college to finance capital improvements to the campus with the proceeds of tax-exempt debt, thereby saving the college money due to the tax-exempt nature of the refunding debt. (2025)
• Served as underwriter's counsel in connection with the issuance of bonds by a port authority to finance a mixed-use development. (2025)
• Served as Underwriter's counsel to a subsidiary of a publicly traded Fortune 500 investment bank in connection with a limited offering of special obligation revenue bonds issued by an East Coast infrastructure improvement district; the bonds were secured by tax increment financing payments and special assessments placed on benefited properties in the development, which will consist of multiple mixed-use buildings, a hotel, multi-family residential housing, and a marina. (2024)
• Served as Bond counsel to a nationally recognized private K-12 school in the issuance of refunding bonds. (2024)
• Served as Bond counsel to an Ohio county, assisting the client in financing various water system and building capital improvements. (2024)
• Served as Company/Borrower's counsel to a global manufacturing company headquartered in Southeastern U.S. for a tax increment financing arrangement (including the issuance of a multi-million dollar special obligation revenue bonds to finance the acquisition of the project site), a ground lease/lease transaction with an Ohio county's economic development and finance alliance, and a grant from JobsOhio to finance a large manufacturing facility to be constructed in Ohio. (2024)
• Served as Bank Counsel to a publicly traded Fortune 500 bank in providing subordinate tax-exempt and taxable line of credit facilities to Midwestern municipal airport. (2024)
• Served as Underwriter's counsel to a publicly traded Fortune 500 bank for bonds issued by a Midwestern county and secured by non-tax revenues of the county to finance a portion of a museum's renovation and expansion; the project is seen as a catalyst for additional development of the lakefront area where the museum is located. (2024)
• Served as Bond counsel to a private school with two campuses in Ohio in a tax-exempt qualified 501(c)(3), variable rate new money bond issuance to finance the construction of a new middle school and additional improvements to the school's existing middle school campus. (2024)
• Served as Bond counsel to a municipality in Ohio in the issuance of tax-exempt, new money general obligation bonds to finance street improvements, service vehicles, and a recreation center. (2024)
• Served as Bond counsel to a municipality in Ohio in income tax revenue bonds issued by the client to finance a recreational center to be integrated into a new school building to be constructed by the local school district and represented innovative financing and partnership between the city and the school district. (2023)
• Served as Placement Agent counsel to a subsidiary of a publicly traded Fortune 500 investment bank, which financed the renovation of a historical hotel in Ohio through two separate bond issuances; each bond issuance was issued through separate bond funds by two port authorities. The bond funds include multiple layers of reserves and have an investment-grade rating, which allowed the hotel to access the capital markets at a lower interest cost. The bonds were payable primarily from tax increment financing based on the anticipated increase in the value of the hotel after the completion of the renovations. (2023)
• Served as Bond counsel to an agency of the State of Ohio for taxable revenue bonds issued by the agency in a private placement; the bonds were issued as draw-down bonds to save the borrower interest expense during the construction period and were structured in a manner that allowed for the simultaneous closing of a property assessed clean energy financing (C-PACE) to complete the capital stack. These bonds provided the borrower with property tax exemptions and sales tax exemptions on construction materials, which assisted the borrower in constructing a multi-family housing project in a difficult environment of rising interest rates and elevated costs of construction materials. (2023)
• Served as University Counsel in a public-private partnership for a long-term lease and monetization of the University’s parking assets. Upfront payment for a 35-year lease was financed with the proceeds of tax-exempt bonds. Bond proceeds provided the University with an upfront payment, allowing the University to pay off existing indebtedness to alleviate budget pressures over the next few years. This was the second Ohio parking P3 that combined an issuance of tax-exempt bonds and provided the University with the possibility of receiving ongoing payments throughout the term of the transaction, depending on the success of the partnership. Calfee served in the same role for the first parking P3 that provided ongoing payments to a university in Ohio. (2023)
• Served as Bond counsel to an agency of the State of Ohio in a $50+ million bond issuance to finance a utility-scale solar park, structured in a manner that the project would be able to qualify for tax credits an an exemption from local real property taxes and sales taxes in the project. (2023)
• Served as Bond counsel to a private high school in the Midwest; "draw down" bonds were issued to finance the construction of a new academic building and capital improvements to an existing library facility and to refinance outstanding indebtedness of the school were issued to pay for various other capital improvements. (2023)
• Served as Underwriter's counsel for a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 global wealth management and investment banking firm client. The publicly offered tax-exempt bonds were issued to finance numerous capital improvements with an Ohio city and refinance outstanding bond anticipation notes issued for all capital improvements. (2023)
• Served as Bond Counsel in the issuance of $275 million of debt to finance a utility-scale solar project in a county in the Midwest.
• Served as Underwriter’s Counsel to the publicly traded, Fortune 500 global financial institution in connection with the issuance by a State Treasurer of grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds (GARVEE).
• Served as Counsel for a public-private-partnership in connection with the monetization of $80 million in parking assets for a Midwestern U.S. university.