Jim Watts

A citizens committee has recommended that trustees of the San Antonio Independent School District schedule a November election on a $502 million bond package. The proposal is the largest ever for the district.

The New Mexico Board of Finance will hold a special meeting in August to consider spending cuts due to lower-than-expected revenue in early fiscal 2011.

Revenue collections in the upscale ski resort town of Vail are expected to be stagnant over the next five years. The latest projection from local officials shows revenue in 2015 coming in at $43.5 million, slightly less than collections in 2009.

Sales tax revenues have rebounded slightly in Gilbert, providing city officials with a renewed sense of optimism.

DALLAS — Today’s negotiated sale of $104.5 million of general obligation refunding bonds by the Orleans Parish Parishwide School District is seen as an indication that New Orleans is recovering from the devastating storms of 2005.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission on Thursday amended its allocation policy for Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds to provide up to $500 million of the debt for a major industrial project.

DALLAS — The federal ban on new deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could be more devastating to the region’s economic recovery than the crude oil that gushed from the BP well blowout for almost three months.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission will meet today to consider a resolution setting the parameters of a $435 million negotiated bond sale for the state’s transportation program. The bonds are expected to price by the end of August.

DALLAS — New Orleans is spending millions to purchase a hospital damaged by Hurricane Katrina and renovate the vacant facility to serve residents of the city’s east side.

A group that supports relaxed liquor laws in Dallas said the expansion of “wet” areas in the city would generate an additional $33.4 million a year in tax revenue for the cash-strapped local government.

Developers of a proposed $500 million eco-friendly entertainment complex near Houston said last week they hope to have financing arranged by the end of 2010 and open the facility in 2013.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., has proposed a 6.4% increase in the property tax to help compensate for real estate values that have fallen by 14% since 2009. The property tax rate has not been increased since 2002.

Officials of the Chicago Cubs said last week they would continue negotiations with Mesa over a new spring training complex in the city, rejecting an effort by Naples, Fla., to lure the Major League Baseball club.

Phoenix will use $3.2 million of proceeds from a 2006 bond authorization to purchase property in north Phoenix that includes the Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum. The city will lease the land to the foundation that operates the museum.

DALLAS — Oklahoma in fiscal 2010 experienced the worst revenue decline since the Great Depression, but Treasurer Scott Meacham is encouraged by the latest report on state tax collections.

Louisiana has so far received significantly more cash from BP than from the federal government for remediation of environmental and economic damages from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Standard & Poor’s said last week in a report on fiscal damages suffered by Gulf Coast state and local governments.

DALLAS — The Houston Community College System is maximizing taxpayer dollars with today’s $74.6 million negotiated sale that includes $26.7 million of senior-lien student revenue bonds and $47.9 million of tax maintenance notes.

Travis County Healthcare District, which operates as Central Health, plans to seek authorization from Travis County commissioners for $18 million of 20-year certificates of obligation to finance a new health clinic.

A bond package designed to ease transportation woes in Austin grew by $5 million to $90 million in a revised proposal released last week. The City Council is expected to vote later this month to put the general obligation bond proposal on the November general election ballot.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission disbursed $109.8 million in sales tax revenue to 505 cities and towns in June, an increase of $3.4 million from June 2009. The state also distributed $23.5 million of sales tax revenues to 74 counties.