Ted Phillips

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell yesterday called on lawmakers to cut spending in light of Moody’s Investors Service decision Monday to lower the state’s rating outlook to negative.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to competitively price $300 million of tax-exempt bonds today in what it expects to be its last bond offering of the year.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority may delay payments to its pension fund if a New York State deficit-closing proposal reduces funds available to repay revenue anticipation notes, the MTA said yesterday.

Moody’s Investors Service late Monday cut its outlook on Connecticut’s general obligation rating to negative from stable, citing one-shot solutions used to balance the state’s fiscal 2010-2011 biennial budget.

The 2007 reform of New York State’s workers’ compensation laws was intended to reduce costs to employers. The policy change also began the gestation of a new credit that is expected to come due in the second week of November.

New York City’s construction boom is over, according to a report released last week by the New York Building Congress.

Connecticut has designated 62 communities as eligible to use the state’s $225 million allocation of recovery zone bonds, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced last week.

New York Gov. David Paterson again raised the spectre of a downgrade yesterday as he cajoled legislative leaders to take action to cut a $3 billion current-year budget deficit. The state faces a serious cash-flow problem in December that could affect its rating if nothing is done, he said.

Hotel developers are hoping the New York City Capital Resource Corp. will be the financing source of last resort for city projects that are either stalled or haven’t started due to the credit crunch.

Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn yesterday filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan to try to stop the mega-development from going forward.

Vermont last week centralized its allocations of recovery zone facility bonds to be issued through a state authority rather than by individual counties, Gov. James Douglas announced. The federal government allocated $135 million of bonding authority under the program to eleven counties in the state.

Unemployment in Rhode Island hit a new record of 13% last month, according data released last week by the state’s Department of Labor and Training. The new rate, which rose from 12.8% in August, is the state’s highest since 1976 when it began using its current methodology.

Construction costs for an major part of the New Haven Rail Yard could come in lower than recent estimates, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said last week. The lowest construction bid for a 293,000-square-foot maintenance facility to service newer Metro-North commuter trains came in at $124.8 million from O&G Industries of Torrington. The most recent estimate of the “change-out” where the trains will be maintained had been put at $291.5 million by a firm hired last year.

New York Gov. David Paterson yesterday proposed spending cuts and revenue-raising measures to close a $3 billion gap in the current fiscal year.

Halfway into its fiscal year, New York’s projected budget deficit has grown to $4.1 billion, up from $3 billion last month, as personal income tax revenues have dropped, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said yesterday.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine at New York University is going to market next week with $369.6 million of tax-exempt bonds. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York will offer the fixed-rate bonds to retail investors on Tuesday and to institutional investors on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke state law when it agreed to new sale terms for the Vanderbilt rail yards in Brooklyn, plaintiffs allege in a suit filed yesterday in New York State Supreme Court.

The Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, R.I., defaulted on scheduled interest and principal payments on bonds maturing this month, triggering a payment by its insurer, according to a notice posted last week by its trustee.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $28.08 billion five year-capital plan is unaffordable, New York Gov. David Paterson said yesterday, adding that the State Department of Transportation’s $25.8 billion five-year plan is too costly as well.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York goes to market today with the state’s first qualified school construction bond deal. DASNY is marketing at least $50 million of QSCBs while at the same time offering $250 million of Build America Bonds and $99.8 million of tax-exempt bonds all on the state’s personal income tax credit.