Trustee spotlight: Tom Freeman.

• Position: ResearchForum

Thomas D. Freeman, known as "Tom," joined FEI in 1993 and became active in his Cincinnati Chapter as well as in national leadership. He joined the FERF Board of Trustees in July 2008 and now chairs FERF's Audit and the Budget and Investment Committees.

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Freeman says he's pleased to serve as a trustee since he's "always valued FERF research and the CPE [continuing professional education] credits that I can earn from reading the materials, as well as attending FEI conferences."

In his "day job," Freeman is chief operating officer in Cincinnati for Peck Shaffer & Williams LLP, a national law firm that specializes in public finance law. Founded in 1889, Peck Shaffer has six offices in several states and works for municipalities, counties, school districts and institutions of higher education.

"This has been a great time for state and local governments to refinance their debt at lower interest rates," Freeman says. "Changes in federal tax law created new financing opportunities, such as Build America Bonds." Build America Bonds, he explains, were created by Congress under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, adopted in 2009 to stimulate the economy by creating jobs and targeting infrastructure development, but were set to expire at the end of 2010. They are government bonds, the interest on which would be excludible from gross income for federal income tax purposes, if an election to be treated as Build America Bonds were not made.

As Freeman explains, issuers of Build America Bonds could elect to receive subsidy payments from the U.S. Treasury Department equal to 35 percent of the interest payable on the related bonds and, if certain additional economic development criteria were met, the issuers could receive subsidy payments equal to 45 percent of the interest payable on the related bonds.

Unlike traditional tax-exempt bonds issued by state and local governments, the interest on the bonds is taxable for bondholders, but the investor can earn a higher rate of return on a comparatively safe municipal investment.

Peck Shaffer participated in three of the 11 financings selected by region as finalists by The Bond Buyer, the national trade publication of the municipal bond industry, for its 2010 Deal of the Year Award. Among some of its recent clients: In the Midwest Region, Peck Shaffer served as bond counsel for a triple-A-rated, $28.6 million financing benefitting a county owned hospital in Michigan. In the Southwest...