Caitlin Devitt

CHICAGO -- If it passes, a referendum that would abolish North Dakota’s property taxes would pose a significant fiscal threat to local governments and would also raise their borrowing costs, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report out Thursday.

Fitch Ratings downgraded $3 billion of Detroit's sewer bonds as the city prepares to enter the market with a new-money issue in mid-June, in part to cover the expense of terminating costly interest-rate swaps.

CHICAGO — The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is bringing $41.7 million of highly rated sales-tax-backed bonds to market Thursday.

The Detroit City Council last week approved a $1.12 billion fiscal 2013 budget that largely adheres to Mayor Dave Bing’s proposed spending plan.

Fitch Ratings last week stripped the Detroit suburb of Taylor of its investment-grade rating and warned of further action by assigning a negative outlook.

The Indianapolis Public Schools board last week approved a plan to lay off 163 employees to help close a $27 million shortfall.

Michigan has set June 14 for the sale of $3.3 billion of bonds that the state will use to defease short-term debt issued in late December to pay off its federal unemployment liability.

Michigan has set June 14 for the sale of $3.3 billion of bonds that the state will use to defease short-term debt issued in late December to pay off its federal unemployment liability.

CHICAGO — Michigan officials are putting the final touches on a fiscal 2013 budget that will likely mark the state’s first contribution since the early 1990s to prefund its towering retiree health care liability.

As Indiana spends down $3.8 billion generated by its 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road, the state has a series of new public-private partnerships in the pipeline that underscore its continued reliance on the technique to provide financing for transportation infrastructure projects.

A struggling film studio located in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac has a new tenant, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.

Michigan state Rep. Maureen Stapleton, who represents Detroit, last week introduced legislation that would create a bond-issuing authority to take over the city’s troubled lighting department.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Glenda Price, a former college president, to the nine-member financial advisory board that will help oversee the implementation of the consent agreement between Detroit and the state.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Department of Transportation is taking bids from firms interested in advertising at its Interstate rest stops and welcome areas to help raise funds to whittle down a $1.6 billion budget hole that officials say will delay projects for years.

CHICAGO — Nearly half of nonprofit hospitals expect capital spending to rise over the next five years, driven primarily by a need to invest in information technology, according to a new survey from Fitch Ratings.

Michigan continues to climb out of its devastating 10-year recession and could see its unemployment rate fall to 7.4% by the end of 2014, economists and state fiscal officials said Wednesday at the Legislature’s twice-annual revenue estimating conference.

CHICAGO — Washtenaw County was forced to cover a May 1 debt-service payment for a small Michigan township that doesn't have enough money to meet its obligation on a failed special-assessment development.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich last week reiterated his plan to continue to cut aid to local governments despite a recent climb in state tax collections.

Democrats last week appointed former state treasurer and public finance banker Kevin Boyce to the Ohio House of Representatives.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder last Thursday met with top Canadian officials to talk about a proposed $4 billion, publicly funded trade bridge spanning the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, according to local reports.