Ted Phillips

The New York Senate yesterday passed emergency spending bills to keep the government running as it appears inevitable the state will not have a new budget approved in time for the start of the new fiscal year on Thursday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority liked Build America Bonds so much that the majority of its debt issues over the past 13 months have been the new taxable bonds.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plan to competitively sell $116.8 million of bonds on Wednesday to refund outstanding debt.

The Erie County Legislature last week approved asking its control board to borrow money on the county’s behalf. The Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority is set to market $170 million of tax-exempt bonds in May to finance new capital spending and to take out $103 million of bond anticipation notes.

New York Gov. David Paterson signed into law appropriations for $4.41 billion of debt service last week because a budget deal appears unlikely before the April 1, beginning of the new fiscal year.

Public finance veteran Robert Foran will today be named the new chief financial officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Foran, 53, a public finance banker for nearly three decades, has been working with MTA since the 1980s and was a key figure in its $15 billion restructuring that began in 2002.

Moody’s Investors Service Thursday upgraded the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to Aa2 with a stable outlook from Aa3, citing its favorable financial results in tough economic times. The upgrade affects $12.4 billion of outstanding debt.

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver introduced a bill Wednesday to create a financial review board to oversee the state’s fiscal health and borrow up to $6 billion to close the deficit.

New York’s cash strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a package of service cuts at its board meeting yesterday to help close a $800 million current year deficit.

Practices that increased participation by minority- and women-owned underwriting firms in state-backed bond deals should made law, New York Gov. ­­David ­Paterson said yesterday.

New York City’s budget director Tuesday ordered agency heads to find spending reductions totalling $1.3 billion in anticipation of budget cuts from the state government in Albany.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority goes to market today with a smaller revenue anticipation note deal than last year, reflecting lower revenue than original expected from a bailout package.

New York’s rate of borrowing is unsustainable, according to a report released by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli Friday.

The Nassau County Bridge Authority plans to market $10.9 million of tax-exempt bonds to retail investors on Wednesday to rehabilitate a draw bridge on Long Island. Institutional pricing is expected to follow on Thursday.

New York City Comptroller John Liu on Friday convened the first meeting of a task force charged with examining and recommending best practices for community-benefits agreements on subsidized economic development projects. The recommendations are due in six months.

New York City plans to begin selling its first qualified school construction bonds by May, the comptroller’s office said last week.

As the trickle of taxable Build America Bonds coming to market turned into a flood last year, issuers’ underwriting-designation policies followed the course charted by the corporate market. In recent months, signs have emerged that the tide is turning and there is no agreement on whether or not that’s a good thing.

While much has been made of a deficit-borrowing proposal in New York, less attention has been paid to how those bonds would force fiscal discipline through bond covenants.

New York City is in the market this week with two bond deals that when completed will total $1.26 billion of taxable and tax-exempt debt.

New York Gov. David Paterson last week nixed the controversial selection of Aqueduct Entertainment Group to develop and operate a video lottery terminal facility in Queens.