Jim Watts

Little Rock, Ark., hopes to build a new police headquarters with revenues from the 1% increase in the city’s sale tax rate that went into effect Jan. 1, 2012.

Trustees of Arizona's Western Maricopa Education Center Joint Technological Education School District No. 402 will consider asking voters in November for a property tax increase to support up to $85 million of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — A general obligation bond program going to El Paso, Texas, voters in November grew from an initial $200 million to a new total of up to $835 million at a special City Council meeting Wednesday.

DALLAS — Dallas can ask voters for $600 million of new general obligation debt in November without raising the tax rate under revised projections outlined Wednesday to the City Council.

The Louisiana Senate Retirement Committee adopted two key components of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s pension reform plan Monday despite objections from opponents who said some aspects of the measures were unconstitutional.

DALLAS — Texas Gov. Rick Perry called Monday for a state constitutional amendment to link and limit increases in state spending to population growth plus inflation.

Texas collected $1.87 billion of sales tax revenue in March, up almost 17% from collections in March 2011.

A preliminary Travis County state district court ruling on whether oil and gas drilling and production equipment is exempt from the Texas sales tax could cost the state millions of dollars a year in lost revenues and billions more in refunds.

Local governments in Wyandotte County, Kan., last week shared more than $843,000 from the first monthly distribution of revenues from a casino that opened in early February.

Trustees of Sedgwick County Unified School District 259 last week revived $8 million of bond projects at nine Kansas schools that had been postponed, but they are still looking for additional financing to build tornado safe rooms at district schools.

Kansas state revenue over the next two fiscal years should be $252.2 million more than had been expected, the Consensus Estimating Group said last week. The new outlook revises the official estimating group’s November 2011 report.

Phoenix’s newest five-year capital spending program calls for expenditures of $2.8 billion through 2017, down from $3.2 billion in the 2011-2016 span.

DALLAS — Houston voters should expect a general obligation bond election in November, Mayor Annise Parker said Thursday in her third state of the city address.

DALLAS — The Dallas City Council approved up to $25.5 million of tax and revenue certificates of obligation Wednesday to finance improvements to the city-owned Cotton Bowl stadium in Fair Park.

A bill proposed by Louisiana Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, would allow an ailing member of the Revenue Estimating Conference to designate an interim stand-in, and avoid a potential delay in revenue estimates needed to develop the state budget.

More than half of the residential properties in Williamson County dropped in value last year, the county appraisal district said last week.

Canadian County Independent School District No. 69 will build a new elementary school and two sixth-grade centers with proceeds from $95.2 million of general obligation bonds approved by voters last week.

A dispute over $25 million in the state's proposed $14.3 billion budget for fiscal 2013 will close state courts for five days, Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said last week.

Voters last week approved a $66.6 million bond package for Sedgwick County Unified School District 260 with 75% in favor of the plan to build a new middle school and renovate existing facilities.

Arkansas general revenue collections totaled $508.3 million in March, up $24.5 million from March 2011 and $22.3 million more than expected and the highest ever recorded for the month.