Arizona

DALLAS - The Arizona Transportation Board is scheduled to sell $164.5 million of excise tax revenue bonds in a competitive deal Tuesday.

Arizona school districts may not use leftover bond money on projects that were not specifically approved by voters, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled.

DALLAS - Arizona's Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District achieved savings of about $58 million or 12.3% on a $441.5 million refunding that is the first and largest issue of the year from the electric utility provider, officials said.

DALLAS - Lenders have repossessed a 33-acre retail and entertainment complex adjoining Glendale, Ariz.'s National Hockey League arena after a failed foreclosure auction.

DALLAS - The Arizona Transportation Board has switched lanes to adjust to market conditions, planning to substitute a senior-lien excise tax revenue bond issue for a subordinate-lien highway revenue bond sale that had been expected this week.

Midwestern University will expand its facilities in Glendale, Ariz., and Downers Grove, Ill., with proceeds from $50 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds approved last week by the Glendale city council.

DALLAS - Property tax collections in Arizona's largest county will fall for the third straight year as real estate values continue to plunge, officials said.

A law that allows Arizona school districts to spend bond proceeds on projects not on the original program approved by voters was challenged as unconstitutional last week in oral arguments in a Maricopa County Superior Court.

DALLAS — Glendale, Ariz., is in negotiations to sell the Phoenix Coyotes to a former National Hockey League team official in a deal that will not require a bond issue.

DALLAS — While other Arizona cities compete for a $100 million private prison on behalf of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Goodyear has threatened to sue the state if it decides to build another lockup in its backyard.

Maricopa County supervisors last week raised the property tax rate for fiscal 2012, but officials said a drop in property values should keep most residential tax bills at or near current levels.

DALLAS - Amid rising sales tax revenue and an improving economy, Phoenix is considering a bond issue to revive plans for a $288 million extension of the metro area's new light-rail system.

A task force charged with determining Scottsdale’s capital needs met for the first time last week as the City Council moves towards a possible general obligation bond election in the fall of 2012.

DALLAS - Fitch Ratings has downgraded $12.6 million of certificates of participation issued in 2009 for Tucson's downtown Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District while affirming the city’s general obligation debt at AA-minus.

Arizona’s general fund collections rose 11.6% in fiscal 2011, ending an unprecedented three-year span of consecutive declines.

Proponents of a plan to limit increases in Arizona state and local property tax levies have filed paperwork with the secretary of state’s office for a third try at a statewide vote. Similar initiative attempts failed in 2008 and 2010.

DALLAS — Facing 22 more years of debt service on its Jobing.com Arena, Glendale, Ariz., is seeking a new strategy to keep the Phoenix Coyotes playing in the $180 million venue after a deal to sell the hockey team fell through.

DALLAS - The financial trouble surrounding Glendale, Ariz.'s $180 million bond-financed hockey arena appears to be worsening as the adjoining Westgate City Center retail and entertainment complex faces the threat of foreclosure.

DALLAS - Amid prolonged uncertainty and threats of a lawsuit, Glendale, Ariz., has called off plans to issue $100 million of certificates of participation to finance the sale of the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes to private investor Matthew Hulsizer.

Trustees of Maricopa County Community College District will consider a plan Tuesday night to raise property taxes to compensate for an 85% cut in state aid.