Ted Phillips

New York Gov. David Paterson said yesterday that he will order the withholding of payments to local governments to deal with a $1 billion shortfall this month.

New York City has nearly selected all the projects for its $121 million allocation of Recovery Zone facility bonds, pending board approval, the conduit issuer said yesterday.

NEW YORK - New York’s cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced yesterday that it faces a new $200 million shortfall this year due to lower than projected payroll tax receipts. The state Legislature in May enacted a payroll tax in the 12 counties served by the MTA as a major piece of a rescue package for the authority. The tax had been expected to generate $1.02 billion in 2009 and $1.54 billion in 2010.

Priscilla Almodovar, president and chief executive officer of the New York State Housing Finance Agency and the State of New York Mortgage Agency, resigned Friday.

New York’s largest housing finance agencies plan to sell more than $1 billion of bonds to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae this month under a new federal program aimed at giving a shot in the arm to HFAs.

The outgoing mayor of Syracuse will take over leadership at the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp., pending board approval, Gov. David Paterson announced last week.

Bond counsel Jonathan Ballan will head up efforts to review Westchester County’s finances as part of County Executive-elect Rob Astorino’s transition team.

The Forest City Ratner Cos. is banking on luxury seating, naming rights, and sponsorships to back $500 million of tax-exempt bonds to be issued for a new arena in Brooklyn.

The New York Legislature yesterday passed a $2.7 billion budget-deficit reduction program, pension reform, and public authorities reform.

The Liberty Development Corp. plans to market $2.59 billion of tax-exempt Liberty Bonds before Christmas for development at the World Trade Center site in order to meet a year-end deadline.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York adopted new borrowing guidelines for lower-rated credits at its monthly board meeting yesterday. DASNY’s board also gave final approval to $1.43 billion of bonds, mostly on behalf of the state.

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s gave the bonds for New York City’s controversial Atlantic Yards basketball arena their lowest investment-grade ratings yesterday.

New York Gov. David Paterson said yesterday that he will not oppose the Legislature’s budget-deficit proposal even though it falls short of closing a $3.2 billion current year gap.

NEW YORK - Moody’s Investors Service rated the bonds for New York City’s controversial Atlantic Yards basketball arena at a notch above junk, according to a rating report released today. Moody’s assigned its Baa3 rating with stable outlook to the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corp.’s offering of $500 million of bonds.

New York’s budget gap talks continued with little apparent action yesterday afternoon after Gov. David Paterson on Sunday announced he would act administratively to close $1.6 billion of the state’s $3.2 billion fiscal 2010 deficit. Both chambers of the Legislature met in special session to deal with the budget deficit but neither the Senate nor Assembly had taken up any legislation at press time.

Connecticut will round out the year with a new public-private partnership for highway service plazas. In December, a consortium will take over operations of 23 service plazas and sink in millions of dollars to upgrade the facilities.

New York City Council member David Weprin plans to run for his brother’s seat in the New York State Assembly.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded Binghamton’s general obligation rating to Baa1 with a negative outlook from A3. The downgrade affects $42.5 million of outstanding debt.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell last week proposed a deficit mitigation plan to close a nearly $470 million gap in Connecticut’s current 2010 fiscal year. The plan includes agency and program cuts, fund sweeps and $84 million of cuts to aid to municipalities. Legislative approval will be required for $116.3 million of the proposed cuts.

After years of controversy, the Atlantic Yards basketball arena project in Brooklyn yesterday received board approval to issue bonds next month and won a major lawsuit that sought to overturn New York State’s use of eminent domain.