California

SAN FRANCISCO — Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the San Pablo Redevelopment Agency’s Tenth Township Project Area tax-allocation bonds to Baa2 from Baa1, citing a sharp decline in property tax revenue and high exposure to variable-rate debt.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed proposed a freeze in redevelopment spending in California’s third-largest city to prepare for a $75 million state raid on the local budget.

SAN FRANCISCO — The California State Public Works Board abruptly removed more than half a billion dollars from last week’s lease-revenue bond sale after two state lawmakers issued a last-minute letter warning of legal challenges to a project that was slated to receive bond funding.

SAN FRANCISCO — Even as the market for qualified school construction bonds is taking off, many California school districts appear to be stuck on the sideline because of questions over the way the state allocated QSCB authority to the districts.

Declining property values were a key factor in a two-notch downgrade Moody’s Investors Service dealt Tuesday to the Ripon Redevelopment Agency.

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge was elected president of the National League of Cities Saturday.

San Francisco Controller Benjamin Rosenfield this week said that the city faces a general fund deficit of $53 million in fiscal 2009-10.

SAN FRANCISCO — ­California is facing a $6.3 billion deficit for the current fiscal year, as well as a $14.4 billion gap in the next one, according to a report the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office released yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland, California’s eighth-most populous city, may have to sell its convention center or securitize its parking revenues to close a projected $44.3 million general fund deficit over the next two years.

The Indian Wells, Calif., Redevelopment Agency disclosed late Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service has initiated an audit of $68 million of tax-allocation bonds it competitively sold in 2006.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Sacramento Municipal Utility District has joined the ranks of public agencies filing civil lawsuits alleging a bid-rigging conspiracy in the municipal derivatives market.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will bring its first Build America Bonds to market as part of a $500 million deal next week.

A developer of cow manure-to-natural gas facilities financed by tax-exempt debt is continuing to negotiate with bondholders as it attempts to keep its business afloat, according to a news release announcing its third-quarter results.

A bankruptcy judge in Santa Rosa gave final approval Friday to a liquidation plan for the assets of Copia, the failed tax-exempt bond financed nonprofit wine museum in the city of Napa.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California this week approved a $350 million subsidy that backers said is crucial to financing the state’s first large-scale desalination plant, which will be located in Carlsbad.

SAN FRANCISCO — California Controller John Chiang delivered a rare piece of good news this week in his monthly general fund cash report, saying the state beat its budget ­estimates for October.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has entered negotiations with the San Diego Chargers in hopes of reaching a stadium deal that would keep the National Football League team in the city.

SAN FRANCISCO — The next storm in an ongoing blizzard of California state paper comes Tuesday, when the California Statewide Communities Development Authority will price a deficit-­driven deal in the $1.5 billion range.

SAN FRANCISCO — Poseidon Resources is seeking a $530 million private-activity bond cap allocation from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee this month in a bid to build the West Coast’s first large-scale desalination plant.

Standard & Poor’s upgraded its underlying rating on the Santa Paula Union High School District in Ventura County to AA-minus from A ahead of an $8 million general obligation sale.