Industry Solutions: Tax-Free Leasing

Spectrum Mapping Tax-Exempt Leasing


Unique Financing Option

Geographic Information System (GIS) costs are cyclical, with significant capital investment required both at startup and at regular maintenance points over the life of the system. To help deal with these periodic expense peaks, Spectrum offers an innovative, affordable alternative: GIS Tax-exempt Lease Purchase. Available to our public sector clients, this financial tool enables up-front access to GIS technology, distributing its cost into predictable, manageable payments over multiple years.


About the Program

With Tax-exempt Lease Purchase, Spectrum customers are now able to align GIS program costs with the useful life of their system. No cash down means that participants can fund the program as they would any other operating expense, spreading the cost of the system over the period that they receive benefit.  And financing doesn’t constitute debt for statutory purposes, since payments are subject to annual appropriation in the budgetary process. Therefore, voter approval is usually not required.

The first tax-exempt lease purchase was completed in the 1970’s. Following passage of Proposition 13, interest and use of this finance vehicle increased rapidly in California. Since then, the Tax-exempt Lease Purchase has become a financing tool used nationwide to pay for necessary items, such as fire trucks, computer systems, software, school buses, and medical equipment.


Who’s Eligible?

Cities, counties, universities, schools, authorities and other public entities that qualify under Section 103 of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible for this unique program.


What’s Covered?

Spectrum Mapping’s end-to-end suite of GIS products and services are eligible for funding under this program. This includes:

• Consulting services
• Aerial Photography Acquisition
• LIDAR DTM Acquisition
• Planimetric & Topographic Mapping
• Digital Orthophotography
• Remote Sensing Data Acquisition & Analysis
• Map/data conversion
• Field Inventory
• Application Development
• Equipment
• Software

Payments Structured To Meet Budgets

• Flexible repayment terms: 2-5 years
• Payment frequency: monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually
• Attractive rates: lower than taxable commercial rates, as interest is exempt from federal income taxes

Security

Spectrum Mapping’s program offers strong financial security, with over $850 million in tax-exempt assets under management in 45 states.


Benefits

Spectrum Mapping’s GIS lease purchase solution for public sector clients offers the following benefits:

• Overcome budget constraints
• Purchase turnkey solution from one source
• Spread system cost over useful life

info@specmap.com