CMF/Investortools/Merritt Data Hub

Data Description

The CMF/Investortools/Merritt datasets include selected items from the annual comprehensive financial statements and other continuing financial disclosures for more than 10,000 state and local government entities, including:

• States, Cities and Counties
• School Districts
• Non-Profit Hospitals
• Higher Education
• Utilities (Retail Electric and Water/Sewer)
• Transportation – Airports
• Transportation – Tollroads

These data were collected and aggregated by Merritt Research Services, an industry leader in municipal credit analysis since 1985 whose products are used by more than 150 fund, institutional and private wealth managers. Merritt Research Services was acquired by Investortools in 2019.

An annual subscription is $3,000 per dataset. Each dataset includes 20-30 standard data fields for one of the six sectors listed above for the most recent ten fiscal years. See the “Data Fields Included” section below for details. All data records include name, state, fiscal year end, Statement Basis and Accounting Basis. Subscriptions purchased in 2023 will include FY2011 through FY2021. All data are delivered as a .csv file with the standard data fields.

Click here to apply for access to the CMF/Investortools/Merritt datasets.

Eligibility

• Access is limited to faculty of accredited U.S. colleges and universities. PhD student access requires a supporting endorsement from a full-time tenure track professor in the program in which the student is enrolled. Students in undergraduate or masters’ programs cannot apply for direct access to the data; their access must occur in a classroom or independent study setting under the direction of a faculty member who has applied for such access.
• To obtain data access, qualified academic researchers must submit a short research proposal. Research projects should focus on important issues of wide and general interest. In particular, narrowly focused projects on subjects of only interest to specific industries or firms may be declined.
• Access is restricted to tenured and tenure track faculty, Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and research professors from accredited institutions.
• Each researcher must register and be approved individually by staff at the University of Chicago’s Center for Municipal Finance.
• Each individual researcher eligible to access the data must have a subscription at their home institution and be registered and approved.
• All co-authors must be employed full-time by and/or enrolled as a student at an academic institution and be registered and approved.
  • Approved researchers are responsible for ensuring data security among support staff – research assistants, research managers, etc. – but support staff do not register and do not need approval.
  • Registered Ph.D. students who graduate and take a job at an unsubscribed academic institution may apply for a no-cost extension for approved projects in progress.
  • Registered Ph.D. students who graduate and take a job at outside of an academic institution are no longer eligible to access data.

Project Criteria

• Researchers must register a 500-1000 word description of each project. Each paper a researcher intends to publish should be its own project
• Researchers must disclose any changes to their project scope, coauthors, or funding sources during the course of their research.
• Use of the data for consulting purposes is strictly prohibited. Projects intended to evaluate Investortools’ data collection methods or prior conclusions will not be approved.
• Researchers must not disclose any jurisdiction-specific information from the Investortools data.

Click here to apply for access to the CMF/Investortools/Merritt datasets.

Data Fields Included

States, Cities and Counties

1. General Fund (GF) Cash & Investments
2. GF Deferred Revenue
3. GF Total Liabilities
4. GF Unassigned/Unreserved Undesignated Fund Balance
5. GF Total Fund Balance
6. GF Total Revenue
7. GF Total Expenditures
8. Total Taxable Assessed Value
9. Total Assessed Value
10. Current Debt Service (all governmental funds)
11. Governmental Activities (Govt. Activities) Current Portion GO Debt
12. Govt. Activities Current Portion Long-Term Debt
13. Govt. Activities Short-Term Debt
14. Govt. Activities Current Liabilities
15. Govt. Activities Long-Term Debt
16. Govt. Activities Invested in Capital Assets Net of Related Debt
17. Govt. Activities Total Restricted Net Assets
18. Govt. Activities Unrestricted Net Assets
19. Govt. Activities Total Net Assets
20. Govt. Activities Operating Grants & Contributions
21. Govt. Activities Total Revenue
22. Govt. Activities Total Expenses
23. Govt. Activities Revenue Over Expense
24. Govt. Activities Change in Total Net Assets/Net Position
25. Govt. Activities Total Net OPEB Liability
26. Govt. Activities Total OPEB Expense
27. Govt. Activities Total Net Pension Liability
28. Govt. Activities Total Pension Expense
29. Population
30. Business-Type Activities Operating Revenue

School Districts

1. General Fund (GF) Cash & Investments
2. GF Deferred Revenue
3. GF Total Liabilities
4. GF Unassigned/Unreserved Undesignated Fund Balance
5. GF Total Fund Balance
6. GF Total Revenue
7. GF Total Expenditures
8. Total Taxable Assessed Value
9. Total Assessed Value
10. Current Debt Service (all governmental funds)
11. Governmental Activities (Govt. Activities) Current Portion GO Debt
12. Govt. Activities Current Portion Long-Term Debt
13. Govt. Activities Short-Term Debt
14. Govt. Activities Current Liabilities
15. Govt. Activities Long-Term Debt
16. Govt. Activities Invested in Capital Assets Net of Related Debt
17. Govt. Activities Total Restricted Net Assets
18. Govt. Activities Unrestricted Net Assets
19. Govt. Activities Total Net Assets
20. Govt. Activities Operating Grants & Contributions
21. Govt. Activities Total Revenue
22. Govt. Activities Total Expenses
23. Govt. Activities Revenue Over Expense
24. Govt. Activities Change in Total Net Assets/Net Position
25. Govt. Activities Total Net OPEB Liability
26. Govt. Activities Total OPEB Expense
27. Govt. Activities Total Net Pension Liability
28. Govt. Activities Total Pension Expense
29. Population

Non-Profit Hospitals

1. Cash & Short-Term Investments
2. Net Accounts Receivable
3. Total Assets
4. Total Current Assets
5. Restricted/Board Designated Assets
6. Total Current Liabilities
7. Current Portion of Long-Term Debt
8. Invested in Capital Assets, Net of Related Debt
9. Total Liabilities
10. Long-Term Debt
11. Pension Liability
12. OPEB Liability
13. Total Operating Revenue
14. Total Non-Operating Revenue
15. Total Operating Expense
16. Salaries & Benefits Expense
17. Depreciation Expense
18. Bad Debt Expense or Equivalent(s)
19. Interest Expense
20. Net Operating Income
21. Change in Unrestricted Net Assets
22. Change in Donor/Temporarily Restricted Net Assets
23. Net Patient Revenue
24. % Medicare NPR
25. % Medicaid NPR
26. Beds in Service
27. Admissions
28. Average Length of Stay
29. Type: Independent or System

Utilities (Retail Electric and Water/Sewer)

1. Cash & Short-Term Investments Net Accounts Receivable
2. Total Assets
3. Total Current Assets
4. Total Current Liabilities
5. Current Portion of Long-Term Debt Payable from Current Assets
6. Current Portion of Debt – Payable for Rst Assts
7. Invested in Capital Assets, Net of Related Debt
8. Total Liabilities
9. Long-Term Debt
10. Tot Fund Equity
11. Pension Liability
12. OPEB Liability
13. Total Operating Revenue
14. Total Non-Operating Revenue
15. Total Operating Expense
16. Depreciation & Amortization Expense
17. Total Interest Expense
18. Purchased Power Exp
19. Revenues Over Expenses
20. Total Change in Net Assets (Position)
21. Resd MWh Sales
22. Tot Elect Sales
23. Water Op Rev
24. Sewer Op Rev
25. Tax Support
26. Trans Out

Higher Education

1. Cash & Short-Term Investments
2. Net Accounts Receivable
3. Total Assets
4. Total Current Assets
5. Restricted/Board Designated Assets
6. Total Current Liabilities
7. Current Portion of Long-Term Debt
8. Total Liabilities
9. Unrestricted Net Assets (Position)
10. Long-Term Debt
11. Pension Liability
12. OPEB Liability
13. Total Operating Revenue
14. Total Non-Operating Revenue
15. Total Operating Expense
16. Salaries & Benefits Expense
17. Depreciation Expense
18. Interest Expense
19. Net Operating Income
20. Tot Gifts Non-Operating
21. Endowment Net Assets EOY
22. Total Headcount
23. Full-Time Undergraduate Headcount,
24. Net Tuition Rev,
25. State Appropriations,
26. Property Tax Revenue (Primarily Comm Colleges)
27. Resident Tuition,
28. Non-Resident Tuition;

Transportation

Airport

1. Cash & Short-Term Investments
2. Net Accounts Receivable
3. Total Assets (Position) (aka Fund Balance)
4. Total Current Assets
5. Restricted Assets
6. Total Current Liabilities
7. Current Portion of Long-Term Debt
8. Total Liabilities
9. Unrestricted Net Assets (Position) (aka fund balance)
10. Long-Term Debt
11. Pension Liability
12. OPEB Liability
13. Total Operating Revenue
14. Total Non-Operating Revenue
15. Total Operating Expense
16. Salaries & Benefits Expense
17. Depreciation Expense
18. Interest Expense
19. Net Operating Income
20. Enplanements
21. Tot Passengers

Tollroads

1. Cash & Short-Term Investments
2. Net Accounts Receivable
3. Total Assets
4. Total Current Assets
5. Restricted
6. Total Current Liabilities
7. Current Portion of Long-Term Debt
8. Total Liabilities
9. Unrestricted Net Assets (Position)
10. Long-Term Debt
11. Pension Liability
12. OPEB Liability
13. Total Operating Revenue
14. Total Non-Operating Revenue
15. Total Operating Expense
16. Salaries & Benefits Expense
17. Depreciation Expense
18. Interest Expense
19. Net Operating Income
20. NetToll Rev or Total Vehicles