Ted Phillips

Rhode Island last week delayed payments to municipalities and pension funds so lawmakers would have more time to close a $220 million current-year deficit.

New York’s 115 industrial development agencies are doing a poor job of tracking and verifying job creation and retention for projects that receive public benefits, the state comptroller’s office reported last week.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday cranked up the volume in a fiscal fight with the governor at the release of his executive budget proposal. The mayor proposed a $62.9 billion budget that apparently included few changes from his preliminary budget released in January.

Connecticut lawmakers yesterday appeared to have reached agreement on $950 million of deficit borrowing to balance the state’s biennial budget.

As Connecticut lawmakers met yesterday on the day before the end of the 2010 legislative session, it was unclear whether there was a deal to close the state’s $700 million fiscal 2011 budget gap.

As New York lawmakers work on the state’s fifth emergency spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, other measures have quietly found their way into law.

Fitch Ratings completed its recalibration of municipal bond ratings on Friday, raising their marks on more than 2,200 credits, according to its updated scale.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Stephen Goldsmith, a privatization expert, as his deputy mayor for operations.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week approved a revised $26.27 billion, five-year capital program at its monthly board meeting. The plan slashes $1.8 billion from an earlier proposal that Gov. David Paterson rejected last year as unaffordable. It now goes to a state oversight board for consideration.

The New York City Economic Development Corp. owes the city $125 million, according an audit by city Comptroller John Liu.

Affordable housing developers in New York are finding underwriters and tax-credit investors for their deals, but the market is tougher for newer entrants than it was in the boom years, panelists said yesterday.

New York’s fiscal crisis could spur short-term borrowing by school districts if the state ­delays some of the $3.8 billion in aid payments due to districts in June.

New York Gov. David Paterson late Tuesday called for furloughing many state employees one day each week until the Legislature passes a fiscal 2011 budget. The state has been operating under emergency spending bills, without a budget in place, since the fiscal year began April 1.

Connecticut lawmakers yesterday privately negotiated measures to close an estimated $700 million budget gap for the next fiscal year. Still up in the air is a $1.3 billion securitization plan that would likely involve the issuance of tax-exempt bonds.

New York prepared to end the first month of its fiscal year without a budget in place as lawmakers last night were expected to pass an extender bill to cover spending through May 1. The emergency spending bill would be the fourth since the fiscal year began on April 1.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has started doing its own forecasting for dedicated taxes after state projections have repeatedly come in below expectations, MTA staff said yesterday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Friday announced it had slashed $1.8 billion from its proposed five-year capital plan in a bid to win state approval. Like an earlier proposal rejected last year by Gov. David Paterson, the slimmed-down $26.27 billion capital program has a $9.91 billion funding gap.

The Long Island Power Authority in New York plans to return to the municipal bond market next week with its first-ever Build America Bond deal.

New York State ended fiscal 2010 in balance only by delaying $2.9 billion of payments, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported last week. The state could run out of money by June as a result of pushing those payments into the new fiscal year that began on April 1, he said.

Rhode Island plans to sell $87 million of recovery zone economic development bonds this year instead of tax-exempt general obligation bonds under a bill signed last week by Gov. Donald Carcieri.