Arizona

DALLAS — As the Phoenix City Council prepares to pass an austere $1 billion budget, officials are seeing signs of economic recovery.

DALLAS — With only one bid for the Phoenix Coyotes on the table, the Glendale, Ariz., City Council has 60 days to negotiate a lease with an investor group promising to keep the National Hockey League team in the city’s Jobing.com arena.

DALLAS — Arizona expects to raise $300 million for its general fund today by mortgaging state office buildings, prisons, and other property in its second issue of certificates of participation this year.

DALLAS — Under the latest plan to keep the Chicago Cubs in Arizona, the city of Mesa would raise $84 million to finance a spring training facility without a state bond issue.

DALLAS — Facing the same revenue squeeze choking every Arizona city, Tucson took a hit to its strong credit ratings as it prepares to market $100 million of certificate of participation next month.

DALLAS — Arizona will be spared nearly $1 billion in spending cuts after voters approved a three-year sales tax increase to bolster falling revenue.

DALLAS — As Arizona voters go to the polls today to decide whether to boost revenues by $1 billion through a temporary sales tax increase, the distressed state is also preparing to issue $450 million of lottery bonds to keep its wobbly budget in balance.

DALLAS — In an effort to protect its $180 million investment in the Jobing.com Arena, Glendale, Ariz., is willing to cover up to $25 million in losses for the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes to keep them playing there.

DALLAS — Boycotts in the wake of Arizona’s tough new immigration law could add pressure to the state’s slumping economy and further weaken revenue streams for sports and tourism bonds, industry experts said.

DALLAS — Amid Arizona’s deep economic decline, ­Phoenix is considering shelving $250 million of capital improvement projects that would have been financed by general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — For the first time since it became a state in 1912, Arizona could lift its constitutional debt limit from the original $350,000 — an amount so small that the state issues no general obligation bonds — to $3.9 billion under a measure in the Legislature.

DALLAS — A proposed sale of the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes to Chicago sports entrepreneur Jerry Reinsdorf is contingent on creation of a bond district backed by tax revenue.

DALLAS — The Arizona Department of Transportation is developing a $4 billion plan to reduce congestion on freeways in Maricopa County with bonds backed by sales tax revenue.

DALLAS — Arizona’s drastic $1.1 billion of budget cuts approved last week could grow by nearly $1 billion if voters do not approve a temporary sales tax increase in May and refuse to repeal ballot initiatives from previous years.

DALLAS — With higher education at the center of Arizona’s debate over how to revive its struggling economy, two of its major state universities will issue $237 million of revenue bonds to upgrade their flagship campuses.

DALLAS — Arizona’s plan to build an $84 million, bond-financed spring training facility for the Chicago Cubs in Mesa faces stiff opposition, including a challenge to the constitutionality of using public funds for debt service.

DALLAS — Starved for revenue to fund critical city services, Phoenix is looking at which programs to preserve when a controversial tax on food goes into effect April 1.

DALLAS — Amid growing financial pressure on sports and tourism tax revenue, Arizona is hoping to seal an $84 million deal to keep the Chicago Cubs spring training facility in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

The Flagstaff City Council this week may consider a proposed agreement with developers of a resort complex that calls for the city to acquire part of the site after the project failed to make a debt-service payment in December.

DALLAS — Last week’s downgrades of Arizona’s debt by two rating agencies will have its most immediate impact on the sale of $735 million of certificates of participation to raise cash for the financially strapped state early next month.