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The Center for Municipal Finance (CMF) enables students and faculty to engage the major financial issues of the day facing state and local governments in the United States and around the globe. Some of the topical and enduring issues of municipal finance include financing infrastructure, the use of municipal bonds, privatization, pension liabilities and the efficacy of reform, tax base adequacy, and more.
“We need to rethink the practices and techniques of contemporary municipal finance to provide government services more efficiently and to manage pressing problems related to the public sector,” said Harris Professor Christopher Berry, who directs the CMF.
July 15, 2019, Paula Worthington represented the Center of Municipal Finance at the Municipal Finance Conference in Washington, DC addressing Climate change and state and local governments: The risk of fiscal collapse in coal-reliant communities. View Here
July 9, 2019, In Crain's Chicago Business, Paula Worthington approaches the City of Chicago's inadequate infrastructure with several key principles. View Here
May 14, 2019, Michael Belsky participated on a panel discussion as part of the Treasurer's final Quarterly Earnings Call; asked to take two to three minutes and describe 1. The biggest financial challenge the incoming Mayor needs to address and 2. The greatest opportunity to improve the fiscal outlook for Chicago. Event Info
April 25-26, 2019, the Center of Municipal Finance held the Annual CFO Forum in Washington, DC; an initiative by Harris Public Policy at the University of Chicago, the City of Chicago, and the District of Columbia to support policy dialogue and create a peer-learning network of CFOs from the largest cities in the United States. View Event Info
March 16, 2019, at the American Planning Association Conference 2019, the Center of Municipal finance addressed infrastructure challenges facing cities and towns are significant and rising. Questions addressed in this session include: What are the key avenues for investing in infrastructure to achieve sustainable investment when planning for the future? What are the most effective and innovative financing mechanisms that localities are adopting to meet infrastructure investment challenges? How can you enhance your work as an urban planner with an awareness and understanding of public finance? Event Info
March 12, 2019, Michael Belsky was a panelist at a Congressional briefing on municipal bonds and infrastructure on March 12, 2019, in Washington, DC.
The roundtable topics included:
See the latest CMF press coverage.
Michael D. Belsky is the Executive Director of the Center for Municipal Finance at Harris and teaches a course on the fundamentals of municipal bonds as part of the Municipal Finance Certificate Program. Mr. Belsky has over 30 years of experience in the Municipal Bond Industry.
Gain in-depth expertise in the process, politics and economics of public revenue and expenditure decisions. Learn the practices and techniques of modern financial administration, and the operation of the municipal securities market.
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Christopher Berry's research interests are in the political economy of American local government and the politics of federal spending. Full Bio
Michael D. Belsky has worked in the municipal finance industry for more than three decades. He spent most of his career as group managing director of the Public Finance Group at Fitch Ratings. He also served two terms as a member of the City Council in Highland Park, Illinois (1995–2003) and two terms as mayor (2003–2011). Full Bio
Paula R. Worthington has served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as a research officer, economic advisor, and senior research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Full Bio