About the MAC-- Who We Are

The Municipal Advisory Council of Michigan (MAC) is a registered Michigan not-for-profit membership service corporation. Founded in 1932, the MAC fosters efficient credit and capital markets for public finance investment banking, underwriting, trading and sales, credit ratings and portfolio management.

The MAC is a single-source municipal database for essential bond and note details for all local government issuers in Michigan.

We track, monitor and record all new issue bond sales, whether competitive, negotiated or private placements. This represents more than 13,804 active and outstanding bond issues.

Among 23 distinctive credit reports, the MAC is the primary source for Issuer’s debt statements, overlapping debt and indirect debt, as disclosed in official statements. On average, more than 22,000 reports are annually downloaded by Members.

In addition, the MAC provides critical reports for more than 120 local units of governments to comply with continuing disclosure covenants and disclosures in comprehensive audited financial reports.

MAC’s diverse membership includes broker-dealers, commercial banks, municipal advisors, fund managers, rating agencies, bond attorneys, CPA’s and the Michigan Department of Treasury.

The Michigan MAC welcomes new members!

For joining criteria and information, click here: Joining the MAC – Membership Criteria

Questions?
Please email: mac@macmi.com or call: 313-963-0420 and our professional staff will be happy to provide you with helpful assistance.

Mission Statement.

The Municipal Advisory Council of Michigan (MAC) is a membership services corporation with a mission statement: “To promote sound principles of municipal financing and administration and to assist municipalities and holders of municipal securities in protection of the credit of the municipalities and the payment of such securities.” The MAC’s business services foster efficient markets for investment banking, underwriting, municipal advising, credit surveillance, trading and sales for all municipal debt issuers (Issuers) in the State of Michigan.

MAC Member Services.

The MAC’s services to Members include:

• Collect, record and distribute to MAC member’s Issuer information to accomplish fundamental credit analysis, access SEC Continuing Disclosures and to conduct credit monitoring of Issuers.
• Track and monitor all securities sold by Issuers whether competitively or by negotiation. This comprises scheduled principal and interest reflecting direct, indirect or overlapping debt of Issuers.
• Serving as a neutral venue to receive and facilitate bidding at public sale of securities and to provide independent verification of interest costs.
• Coordinating calendars of bond sale schedules to enable the Members to conduct, advise, underwrite and to facilitate bidding for purchasing debt of Issuers.
• Storage of SEC Continuing Disclosures of operating data, tax rates, property valuations, utilization, census and enrollment data for the benefit of Members and Issuers.

​Policy on Free Competition.

It is the policy of the MAC to comply, and that in engaging in all MAC business activities its members comply, with all federal and state laws governing competition so as to support full and free competition among MAC’s members. The MAC is not chartered to nor shall it act to create business to the mutual benefit of the Members or to establish standards that all members must abide by in order to be considered in good standing.

The Sherman Antitrust, Clayton, Robinson-Patman, and Federal Trade Commission acts, as well as Michigan law, prohibits monopolistic and anticompetitive acts and unreasonable restraints of trade. Violations of these laws could result in imprisonment, fines, and treble damages, reputational damage, and other adverse consequences.

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Neither MAC (including both board and staff) nor MAC’s members, when engaged in MAC business activities, shall engage in any anticompetitive act, including the following:

• Agree to fix prices
• Agree to divide markets or customers
• Boycott or refuse to deal with any entity or agree to deal only on agreed terms
• Agree to any other concerted anticompetitive action

Rules of conduct to comply with this policy and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, when engaging in business activities, the MAC’s board, staff, and members shall not:

• Agree to (or share information regarding) the pricing or costs of services
• Agree to or disclose how a member firm intends to treat any one entity or groups of entities or not to deal with it or them
• Allocate customers or territories among members
• Disclose confidential, proprietary, or competitive information about member business strategies

Policy on Advocacy.

The MAC is not chartered to nor is it registered in accordance with State of Michigan legal requirements to lobby on matters of legislation, regulation or policy(s) anticipated to have an impact on functions benefiting Members. Additionally, the MAC shall not act to enhance the public image in general or protect the integrity of its Members.

Michigan MAC History

The MAC’s activities initially began in April 1931 with an expanding financial and fiscal crisis among many cities, villages, schools and county governments. There was no agency in the State of Michigan focused on resolving conflicting interests of municipalities and creditors.

In fact, uniform standards of disclosure or financial statement comparability were unheard of at the time. Complicating matters, municipal records were hard to read, and state bond laws at times made interpretation difficult, which led to frequent challenges in court.

As defaults occurred and confusion grew, a number of banks, broker-dealers, trust departments and insurance companies conceived the idea that an agency should be organized – to bring facts concerning municipal bond defaults and key financial information together in a centralized place. An organized effort ensued – to underwrite an organization chartered with the task of gathering and clarifying this information for creditors and debtors.

By October 1932, the MAC incorporated as a not-for-profit membership association. The MAC initially began to counsel distressed local governments on how to improve their business operations. Other activities soon included providing direct operating loans to school districts, cities and townships. Refunding and restructuring debt soon followed.

During the mid-1930s the MAC cataloged the outstanding bond and note indebtedness of all municipalities in southeastern Michigan. Reports (bulletins) were distributed to Members when a new series of debt was to be issued. A “bulletin” capsuled the bond details of an offering and a summary of the economic characteristics of the Issuer community – a novel idea at the time. Consistency of format, including direct debt, overlapping and indirect debt of an Issuer – for a fair comparative credit analysis form one Issuer to the next – soon was a hallmark of the Securities Act of 1933. The new issue MAC Report of today continues to embrace a consistent format of information for investors, underwriters and analysts – an important benefit of membership.

Transition into the 21st Century

Prior to present day computers and memory to store data on servers, the MAC annually produced soft cover 8 ½”x11” books – distributed to Members – representing the debt of all Michigan’s general obligation and all revenue bond issues.

By the late 1990s the MAC was investing in computers and the conversion of data into digital form. The first internet web site was created in 1998. More recent investments in hardware and software infrastructure has allowed the MAC to expand data and reporting; improve firewalls; and create systems backup and provide state of the art transmission as a benefit of membership.

The MAC’s 8 ½”x11” soft cover books, the once coveted cornerstone for every underwriter, investment banker, financial advisor and credit analyst’s desk top are now mementos of the past.

Does your firm engage in underwriting, buying and selling or providing services for municipal debt issued by the State of Michigan or its agencies or political subdivisions?

If you answered, “Yes”, good news: you may become a MAC Member.

In fact, any entity engaged in the Michigan public finance credit and capital markets where municipal debt is issued by Michigan and its local units of government is eligible to join.

The MAC fosters efficient investment banking, underwriting, trading and sales as it relates to Michigan’s public finance credit and capital markets. As a part of its duties, the MAC collects, records, and distributes information important to fundamental investor credit analysis, disclosure, and credit monitoring. Integrity of data is our top priority!