Jim Anderson - Mountain Connect

Jim Anderson is Managing Director of the Denver, Colorado office of Municipal Capital Markets Group. Mr. Anderson has been an investment banker in the Public Finance industry since 1971. During this time he has been employed in large regional and major national investment banking firms. Mr. Anderson was President and CEO of Anderson, DeMonbrun Inc., building that firm into a significant specialty firm before it was acquired by Prudential-Bache Securities. Over the years Mr. Anderson has developed expertise in the areas of public utility financing, lease-purchase financing for governmental bodies, and advance refunding transactions. In addition to his work as an investment banker, Mr. Anderson has published articles on public finance for leading professional periodicals and has served on community service boards and commissions, such as the Colorado Municipal Bond Supervisor Advisory Board, and on the Board of the American Lung Commission. He brings to the firm an outstanding background in public finance and public service. Mr. Anderson has a degree in business administration from the University of Denver.

All Sessions by Jim Anderson

August 11, 2026 Policy, Security & Critical Infrastructure

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Governors Square 15

How an IRS Rule is Unlocking Public Broadband Finance in Rural America

Two communities. Two very different starting points. Same answer, and it was written into the tax code sixty years ago.
Kendall County, Illinois had 10,000 addresses that no carrier would build to and a grant award that covered a fraction of the cost.

The Port of Lewiston, Idaho had dark fiber in the ground, no grant program to lean on, and a closing window before someone overbuilt it. Neither had a balance sheet to risk or an appetite for new taxes.

Both are now building fiber broadband networks, financed with tax-exempt revenue bonds under IRS Revenue Ruling 63-20, that transfer to community ownership when the bonds retire. No taxpayer guarantee. No new millage. Roughly 25,000 service locations between them.

Attendees of this session will leave with a practical understanding of:
• How the structure works and why it qualifies for tax-exempt bond financing
• How grant dollars and bond proceeds stack to close the capital gap
• Why this model can be a genuine alternative to municipal ownership or private carrier deployment in underserved markets
• Risks, tradeoffs, and questions to evaluate beforehand

If you are a county weighing ownership, an ISP hunting a new deployment model, or a builder trying to figure out where the capital comes from, this is the mechanics, not the theory.