Custom Modeling Service
Municipal Modeling for Cities, Counties & Agencies
Decision analysis consultant for cities, counties, states, and other municipal entities. We specialize in customized modeling for any complex analysis juggling numerous variables and a high degree of uncertainty.
What We Do
We work alongside community development planners to understand their situation and challenges, then provide bespoke models tailored to client needs and preferences for deciding on a path forward. We are often sub-contractors to other consultants in a larger RFP process.
- Multi-Year PlanningModel capital spending across multiple budget cycles to understand long-term fiscal feasibility and project sequencing.
- Budget OptimizationAutomatically evaluate project combinations to find the allocation that maximizes community benefit within your available budget.
- Financial FeasibilityEvaluate the importance of financial incentives to facilitate public partnerships with private capital and kickstart development activity.
- Scenario ComparisonRun multiple scenarios side by side to present decision-makers with clear options and trade-offs for council approval.
Case Studies
We Help You Process Difficult Decisions
Each engagement started with a problem involving many moving parts. Here is how TILT approached them.
Multi-Year Capital Budget Optimization
Problem
An Oregon county needed a rigorous, defensible methodology for selecting and sequencing capital projects across a 10-year horizon, spanning hundreds of millions of dollars. Projects ranged from seismic retrofits and bridge maintenance to records digitization and animal services upgrades, which do not lend themselves to direct comparison.
Solution
The model weighted qualitative county objectives alongside hard financial constraints, including debt limits and debt service capacity. Rather than prescribing a single answer, it presented decision-makers with multiple viable portfolios, facilitating and focusing discussions and decisions.
Incentivizing Major Waterfront Development in an Up-and-Coming Mid-Size City
Problem
The Port of Vancouver sought to catalyze large-scale high-rise waterfront development in a market where prevailing rent rates could not support the cost of multi-story construction. The challenge was structuring a property tax incentive that worked for both sides.
Solution
The model analyzed the development from the developer's perspective, stress-testing IRR under various tax incentive structures. The solution was a time-based tax phase-in: eliminating or reducing property taxes in the early years of the project, then stepping up to full rate over time. Both parties used the model to assess, compromise, and reach an agreement.
Land Disposition Analysis
Problem
The core decision involved evaluating three exit strategies for an exhausted mining site: as-is sale, land development to a lot-ready state, or a full construction partnership. Numerous variables had uncertainty in both financial terms and timing, including sale-price ranges, buyer timelines, and development costs.
Solution
The model factored in all variables, each with ranges of possible assumptions, and ran thousands of scenario outcomes to evaluate the best decision given what was known at the time.
Lease Renewal vs. Consolidation vs. Acquisition
Problem
The county faced a decision across three existing lease locations: renew in place, consolidate into a single leased building, or purchase that building outright. Variables included purchase price, renovation costs, relocation costs, renewal rates, long-term appreciation, and more.
Solution
The model factored in all variables, each with ranges of possible assumptions, and evaluated the inflection point for each variable at which the decision with the best expected value changed.
Your Partner for Complex Analyses
Make data-driven infrastructure decisions that maximize community benefit.
Let's DiscussMunicipal Modeling
Frequently Asked Questions
What is municipal financial and decision modeling?
Municipal financial and decision modeling is custom analysis that helps public entities choose among complex options under budget constraints and uncertainty: capital-project sequencing, incentive structures, land decisions, and lease-versus-buy. TILT builds bespoke models for each engagement and often works as a sub-contractor inside a larger consulting RFP team.
Who does TILT build municipal models for?
Cities, counties, states, ports, and agencies, plus the consultants and TIF advisors who lead RFP engagements and bring TILT in for the quantitative modeling layer. TILT works alongside community-development planners to fit the model to how decision-makers actually need to weigh the call.
Does TILT work as a sub-contractor on RFP engagements?
Yes. TILT is frequently a sub-contractor to other consultants inside a larger RFP process, owning the financial and decision-modeling component while the lead consultant manages the engagement. TILT also partners directly with TIF advisors and municipal consultants on incentive-driven work.
What kinds of municipal decisions has TILT modeled?
Real examples: a 10-year capital-budget optimization for an Oregon county weighting qualitative objectives against debt limits; a Port of Vancouver waterfront property-tax phase-in structured so developer and public entity both agreed; a mining-site land disposition across three exit strategies; and a county lease-renew-versus-consolidate-versus-buy decision.
Can TILT model TIF and property-tax incentive structures?
Yes. TILT models pay-as-you-go versus TIF-bond structures and time-based property-tax phase-ins, analyzed from the developer's side (stress-testing IRR under each structure) so both the public entity and the private partner can negotiate from the same numbers. Incentive feasibility is a core municipal use case.
Does TILT handle uncertainty and multi-scenario decision analysis?
Yes. Where variables carry ranges (sale price, cost, timing, buyer behavior), TILT runs thousands of scenario outcomes to identify the best decision given what is known today, and finds the inflection point at which the better choice changes. The model presents viable options and trade-offs rather than prescribing one answer for council.
How does a municipal engagement start?
Start with a free consultation. Submit the contact form or email Justin; he replies within 24 hours. TILT scopes the decision and the variables with you (or with the lead consultant on an RFP), then builds a bespoke model tailored to how the decision-makers need to see the trade-offs.
Let's Discuss Your Project
We work as part of your team, offering specialized services for modeling. Happy to discuss how we can help.
Working Together Is Easy
- High-efficiency working relationship
- Quick turnaround on drafts and modifications
- Ongoing support and revisions