Jim Watts

DALLAS — Kansas lawmakers will return to Topeka on April 28 to deal with a growing budget shortfall that has worsened since the Legislature recessed in early April to await the latest revenue estimate.

DALLAS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal plans to close a $366 million budget gap over the next 10 weeks with funds earmarked for resolving a dispute with the federal government and money from a settlement with a pharmaceutical company.

New Braunfels Independent School District trustees decided last week to ask voters to approve a $45.3 million bond package at an election in November.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has signed a bill that authorizes the restructuring of a 2006 bond issue providing matching funds for endowed chairs at state colleges and universities. The state had planned to issue another $100 million in 2009, but debt service on the new bonds was not appropriated by the Legislature.

The director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation told highway commissioners last week that any more cuts in state funding could halt a planned sale of $150 million of bonds.

The North Little Rock City Council last week unanimously approved a proposal by Mayor Patrick Hays to issue $7 million of five-year sales tax bonds that will provide $750,000 for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Arkansas River.

The Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance will hold four meetings across Arkansas in May to get public input on its proposals for financing state and local highway and street projects.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission has temporarily postponed refunding $500 million of outstanding state general obligation bonds until the Internal Revenue Service completes a routine audit of some of the issues.

DALLAS — Louisiana lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal must fill a $319 million revenue gap in the fiscal 2010 budget in less than three months following the latest revision in expected revenues.

The Public Affairs Research Council said last week it opposes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to loosen constraints on two constitutionally protected state funds. The nonpartisan group said the bills being considered by Senate and backed by Jindal would “postpone the difficult decisions facing budget makers.”

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has called on the state’s legislative and judicial branches to join the executive department in freezing employee salaries in fiscal 2011.

DALLAS — The capital program financed by $98.6 million of general obligation bonds being sought by the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District has been developed to help meet the South Texas district’s needs for the next decade.

State sales tax revenue remains below 2009 levels, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said last week, but the steepness of the decline is abating.

The Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow will work with a private partner in its bid to develop a hotel conference center that was to have been financed with bonds.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission distributed $102 million in local sales tax collections to 505 cities and towns in March, down $7 million from the $109 million distributed in March 2009.

Voters in Tulsa County Independent School District No. 4, which serves the Tulsa suburb of Bixby, approved the largest bond package in its history last week. More than 83% of voters favored the district’s $60 million proposal.

Voters in Kansas City, Kan., will go to the polls today to decide on an increase in the local sales tax from the current 7.55% to 7.925%.

Scottsdale officials have proposed a $234.7 million budget for fiscal 2011 that replaces a feared $18 million shortfall with a potential $365,000 surplus.

The Pine Tree Independent School District in Texas hopes to issue $20 million of taxable general obligation bonds under the federal qualified school construction bond program if voters approve the proposal in May.

Plans to build a state hospital in midtown New Orleans with revenue bonds can go forward following a ruling by a U.S. district judge last week that the planning process complied with federal law.