Jim Watts

The Arizona Department of Economic Security warned last week that the unemployment benefits fund will run dry by March without a $600 million loan from the federal government due to unprecedented demand from jobless workers.

DALLAS — A fast-growing school district in the northern suburbs of Dallas is taking its case for general obligation bonds to voters on Nov. 3 for the third time in a year.

DALLAS — Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe ordered a $100 million reduction in state agency spending on Tuesday to balance the state’s fiscal 2010 budget due to steady and unexpected drops in revenue collections.

DALLAS — Louisiana will sell $325 million of general ­obligation bonds next week as the state enters the new-money market for the first time in three years.

The request by Oklahoma County Independent School District No. 6 for $142.1 million of general obligation bonds was approved by more than 80% of the voters in the Oklahoma City suburb of Deer Creek.

Oklahoma state agencies will have their budgets held to 95% of appropriations for a third consecutive month as the decline in revenue steepened, and spending will be cut by about $21 million, according to Treasurer Scott Meacham.

The latest estimate of New Mexico’s revenues predicts a $650 million shortfall for fiscal 2010, up from an estimated $433 million in August.

The state’s current budget shortfall can be blamed on legislatively mandated tax cuts and exemptions over the past 14 years, Kansas Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon said in speech last week at Wichita State University.

The Central Arizona Water Conservation District has filed a lawsuit with the Arizona Supreme Court over two state budget-balancing financial sweeps that took money from a fund that supported a water banking program.

The Tucson City Council voted unanimously last week to hire Kelly Gottschalk, vice president and director of research for Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Denver, as the city’s new finance director.

DALLAS — The Kansas Department of Commerce has offered an incentive package of tax revenues, tax credits, and cash totaling $229.5 million to sponsors of a proposed $414 million entertainment and office building development in a Kansas City suburb.

The five-week old state tax amnesty program has generated more than $40 million. The program began Sept. 1 and is set to expire Oct. 31.

A planned March 2010 election for $200 million of bonds requested by the Jefferson Parishwide School District has been postponed until October 2011.

Voters in Louisiana’s Iberia Parishwide School District will decide on a $60 million general obligation bond package Saturday that would finance projects contained in a capital improvement plan adopted by school trustees in July.

DALLAS — East Baton Rouge Parish’s proposed $900.8 million bond package will remain on the Nov. 14 ballot despite efforts by several members of the Metropolitan Council to postpone the election until 2010.

Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s raised their ratings on Louisiana’s general obligation bonds by one notch as the state prepares a competitive sale of $324.8 million of GOs for Oct. 27.

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission last week delayed the awarding of contracts for a number of highway projects due to questions over the continued availability of federal funding.

Tulsa County Independent School District No. 5 has several projects under way that are wholly or partially financed with proceeds from $155 million of lease revenue bonds approved by voters in 2008.

Little Rock last week balanced its $135 million operating budget for 2009 with the help of a $1.4 million transfer from the solid-waste fund and spending cuts that eliminated a $3 million budget deficit.

The Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District will sell $11.8 million of certificates of participation in a negotiated sale this week to finance site work and design and development efforts for a downtown hotel as part of the Tucson Convention Center expansion project.