Rate studies, budgets and advocacy.

We do your rate study and give your board a recommendation, the analysis behind it, and tables for review.

We examine operating costs, capital needs, reserves, debt service, and customer impact for water, wastewater, and gas systems. We document the assumptions and explain the arithmetic behind the recommendation.

What you receive

• A baseline of current rates, obligations, and operating pressures
• Cost-of-service allocation with stated assumptions
• Rate paths compared side by side, with customer impact shown
• Tables and a plain-language explanation for board review

We test whether your project is financially workable and show you what it would take.

Before you commit to a project or investment, we test the financial plan against your records and show how changes in growth, costs, or revenue affect the result. For utilities, that can include a line extension, consolidation, or rate-funded capital program.

What you receive

• Stated assumptions based on available records
• Revenue and cost projections across the financing period
• Sensitivity analysis on the assumptions that change the result
• A finding: workable, workable with conditions, or not workable

We prepare budgets, provide fund reporting, and help with recurring filings. Your proposal states whether we prepare, review or submit each filing.

We support your financial work through the year and help address audit findings and the processes behind them. One-time analyses are quoted separately.

What you receive

• A budget prepared from your records for consideration and adoption
• A calendar of recurring obligations with owners and dates
• Fund reporting and required filings within the engagement's scope

We train your board and staff using your financial reports, with materials to keep for future members.

Training helps board members and staff read budgets, audits, and monthly financial statements. For local governments and utilities, it can also cover rate studies and the financial responsibilities of commissioners and council members.

What you receive

• Sessions using your own financial statements
• Explanations of each report's purpose and warning signs
• Guidance on board and staff responsibilities
• Materials to retain for future board members

We prepare grant applications and their financial exhibits, and help with reporting and drawdowns after an award.

We look for programs that fit your project and check eligibility before recommending an application. Your proposal sets out the application or post-award work you need.

What you receive

• Potential programs matched to their eligibility requirements
• A recommendation on whether to apply
• Application preparation with required financial exhibits
• Post-award reporting and drawdown support when included in the engagement

Compare the financial choices behind a project before you commit.

We examine costs and revenue using your records and stated assumptions, then show how changes in those assumptions affect the comparison.

What you receive

• A comparison of project costs and revenue
• Stated assumptions and supporting calculations
• An explanation of how changes affect the comparison

We prepare budgets and fund reports from your records.

We work from your records and help your staff organize the reporting calendar. Your organization retains responsibility for adoption and official determinations.

What you receive

• Budget materials for consideration
• Fund reporting within the engagement's scope
• A calendar of obligations with owners and dates

Learn to read the financial reports you oversee, using your own documents.

We explain budgets, audits, and monthly financial statements, with attention to the questions board members and staff need to ask.

What you receive

• Sessions using your financial reports
• Explanations of each report's purpose and warning signs
• Materials to keep for future reference

Understand the approval steps and meeting schedules that affect your project.

We help you identify the approvals your project needs, the roles of staff and boards, and the meeting schedules that affect your timing. We help you prepare the financial information and questions for those conversations. Local officials retain approval authority.

What you receive

• An outline of approval steps
• Staff and board responsibilities and meeting schedules
• Financial information and questions for project discussions

We also advise local governments. We work for one side of a matter and check for conflicts before accepting the work.

Follow legislation and rule changes that may affect your project.

We track legislation, rules, and administrative action and explain what they mean for your project. We also advocate for your position before the Tennessee General Assembly and executive agencies when you engage us for that work. Your engagement defines whether we provide tracking, advocacy, or both.

What you receive

• Summaries of relevant legislation and rules
• Potential financial and operational effects
• A documented position and supporting facts when included in the engagement

We represent clients before the Tennessee General Assembly on bills and in work with committees, members and legislative staff. We register for your engagement as state law requires; business and nonprofit clients register as employers of lobbyists, pay the per-lobbyist fee, and file public semiannual compensation-range reports with the Tennessee Ethics Commission. Monitoring and advocacy are separate services, and your engagement defines which one you are buying.

Compare project costs and assumptions before you commit.

We work from your records and stated assumptions to compare financial options. You can see how changes in timing, cost or revenue affect the comparison.

What you receive

• A comparison of financial options
• Your stated assumptions and supporting calculations
• An explanation of how changes affect the result

Understand the financial effect of holding an asset for longer.

We examine holding costs using your records, your stated assumptions, and the values or prices you or your licensed advisors supply. We show how changes in timing and cost affect the comparison.

What you receive

• A comparison of holding costs over the periods you specify
• Client-supplied values and stated assumptions
• Supporting calculations

Compare financial outcomes under different sale assumptions.

We use your records and the values or prices you or your licensed advisors supply. We show how changes in timing, cost or revenue move the comparison.

What you receive

• A comparison using client-supplied sale assumptions
• The values and calculations behind each option
• An explanation of the comparison's limits