Yesterday, Grethen Morgenson wrote in the NYT, a story entitled Fair Game, New Rules for the Muni Market, available at http://emma.msrb.org/EA281897-EA1286-EA570212.pdf.
Ms. Morgenson mentions the new free source, Electronic Municipal Market Access (Emma), http://emma.msrb.org/
which allows people to view official statements, and other information, about municipal bond offerings, refundings, etc. (Bonds are issued by cities, counties, museums, the City University of New York through the New York Dormitory Authority to finance construction, remodeling, equipment and other projects.) These official statements have been difficult to obtain in the past for free. Since July, all offerings need to be included on EMMA. EMMA’s information starts in 1990.
In addition to the detailed financial information available, and the terms of repaying the bonds these documents can provide valuable summaries of information that must be disclosed to potential investors. For example, I looked at the official statement for the $990,095,000 City of New York General Obligation Bonds issued earlier this year.
Subtopics of information included Recent Financial Developments, City Services and Expenses, Sources of City Revenues, Government and Financial Controls, Indebtedness, Financial Operations and an Appendix with Economic and Demographic information.
Email alerts are also available so that one might want to track particular offerings.
This site might be very helpful for information about cities around the country and for investors.