About Tal Rappleyea
As a municipal lawyer, Tal Rappleyea gets asked this question all the time: What is a municipality?
A municipality is actually just a technical term for a county or city. Although municipalities are mainly responsible for creating their laws, they hire municipal lawyers that are responsible for enforcing those laws. Tal Rappleyea covers the following municipal law issues to reflect the needs of area residents:
- Education policies, which governs the safety and standards of education in public schools, accommodating students with disabilities, and job security for teachers.
- Property taxes, which outlines how taxed income from residents can be used to benefit the community.
- Police power, which oversees how police officers monitor resident behavior.
- Zoning, which determines how land in the municipality is used.
Some municipal lawyers work internally for one municipality, while others practice law individually for multiple municipalities. Tal practices law individually in his own private practice and serves several counties in the Albany metro area in New York state.
Tal Rappleyea was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in January 1989. This chapter of the bar association is actually the largest voluntary state bar organization in the nation with a membership of more than 74,000 lawyers. Tal is proud to be a member, considering former presidents Grover Cleveland and Chester A. Arthur were members of the New York State chapter as well.
With nearly three decades of experience and a Juris Doctorate from Hamline State University, Tal Rappleyea has explored municipal law in several roles as an attorney, ranging from positions as Attorney for the Town and Attorney for the Village of several municipalities. Currently, Tal is a solo practitioner in his own Law Offices of Tal G. Rappleyea in Valatie, New York and lists municipal law as one of his main concentrations.
Tal is a supporter the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM), which is an organization that trains municipal officials and operates as a general support group for municipal officials in each state. He is also very active in his community, as he is a member of the Capital District Trial Lawyers Association and holds a position in the County Bar Association of New York State.
Although Tal Rappleyea maintains an active lifestyle by volunteering in his community and maintaining memberships in his field of practice, he still makes time for one of his pastimes, golf, by on the range.
- “Deal of the Year” Award from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
- Named one of the three new inductees to the Ethics Committee of REBNY
- Named to the Executive Board of New York Residential Specialists (NYRS).
Going Back to The Basics: Municipal Bonds
The first question you may be asking yourself is what exactly is a Municipal Bond? The Dictionary defines a municipal bond as “a bond issued by a state, county, city, or town, or by a state authority or agency to finance projects.” When someone purchases a municipal bond, the purchaser is lending money to the issuer, which is exchanged for interest payments that are set over an agreed period of time. At the end of this time frame, the bond will reach its date of maturity and the whole amount of the original investment is given back to the buyer.
Municipal bonds are issued with both tax-exempt and taxable formats, but the tax-exempt bonds tend to be the most popular. The reason is because these bonds generate income for the buyers that is exempted from being taxed by the federal government, and most of the time, the local and city taxes of their states. To help break down the specific tax laws in a buyer’s state and helping to navigate the AMT (alternative minimum tax), many investors consult with a tax professional before taking the steps towards purchasing a bond.
Municipal bonds are broken down into two different types; revenue bonds and general obligations. The type of bond is based on the type of principal repayment and their interest payments. In these categories, the bond can be structured in a variety of ways with different risk levels, benefits and treatments. For example, a bond may not always be tax exempted by one body of government and tax exempted by the other. Due to all the variety of factors, it’s extremely important to look at all aspects of each individual bond. So what is the difference between the two bonds you may be asking yourself?
General obligation bonds are issued to raise money immediately to cover expenses. They are issued by a governing body but do not get back by revenues that are generated from a specific property. Many are payable from general funds but often supported by property taxes that have been dedicated. Often a general obligation means that seller has reigned authority to tax residents of the specific municipal to raise money to issue to the bondholder. However, there are expectations that they do not have the authority to tax residents as well.
Revenue bonds are issued to help pay for infrastructure projects and supported by the funds raised during the duration of them. There are about three sellers of revenue bonds in general: Private-Sector Corporations, Entities that give a Public Service and Nonprofit Organizations. A conduit issuer can occur rarely when the municipality issues bonds in that manner.
These are the two basic and most common bonds but not the only ones. To learn more about the different types of bonds, visit Fidelity’s website here.