Illinois

CHICAGO — Illinois lawmakers should keep tax reform that raises new revenue on the table to stabilize state finances because a $7 billion structural deficit looms even with a new income-tax increase in place, a local fiscal review group warned Friday.

CHICAGO — As it works to reduce its reliance on endowment draws and loans to cover operations, the Illinois Institute of Technology held on to its investment-grade rating from Moody’s Investors Service on Friday, when the agency removed the credit from its watchlist and affirmed its Baa3 rating.

CHICAGO — Chicago plans to sell $1 billion of O’Hare International Airport third-lien general airport revenue bonds next month.

CHICAGO — With his proposal to borrow $8.75 billion to pay down bills floundering, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is pressing lawmakers to authorize $1.75 billion to $2 billion of short-term bonding to pay off Medicaid-related bills before federal reimbursement rates drop in July.

CHICAGO — The bankrupt Fairview Obligated Group, operator of several Chicago-area continuing care retirement communities, will hold an auction next month on its Rockford campus as investors who hold $57 million of mostly tax-exempt debt await word on how much they stand to recoup.

Fewer schools made the Illinois fiscal watch list in fiscal 2010, according to the state Board of Education’s annual financial profile of public school districts.

CHICAGO — The new administration running Cook County, Ill., is conducting its first request for proposal process to assemble a finance team to lead debt issuance over the next two years.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on a revamped financing scheme, which includes a cigarette-tax hike that would allow the state to continue issuing bonds and keep a $31 billion capital budget on track ahead of a court decision on the original plan’s ­legality.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded the Piatt County Building Commission’s lease revenue rating one level to Aa3 due to its high reliance on corporate-replacement tax revenue, which declined by 30% between fiscal 2008 and 2010.

Illinois pension contributions and the repayment of pension-related debt will rise by $562 million in fiscal 2012 to $6.4 billion, according to an audit from state auditor general William Holland.

CHICAGO — In a deal brokered by federal authorities, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and officials from American Airlines and United Airlines announced an agreement Monday that allows the city to begin work on $1.17 billion worth of a remaining $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport.

CHICAGO — The Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, a small A-plus-rated provider in southern Illinois, began planning a $45 million bond issue early last fall. But after months of watching interest rates climb in the public market, the hospital decided to privately place the debt with a bank.

CHICAGO — Illinois’ tax revenues are on the rise, fueled by a recovering economy and an income-tax increase. But the state is still grappling with high unemployment even as exports rise and the non-manufacturing sector expands, according to a nonpartisan legislative commission’s new revenue and economic forecast.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced borrowing plans Tuesday for three central Illinois hospitals seeking to refund debt or raise funds for new projects, including $400 million for the Carle Foundation’s overhaul of its Urbana campus.

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton on Monday floated the idea of taxing some retirement income as part of a possible revenue-neutral overhaul of state taxes.

Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel on Monday named 17 business and non-profit professionals to serve on his government and budget transition team to advise on policy and fiscal decisions.

CHICAGO — Trinity Health Credit Group’s plan to buy Loyola University Health System should bolster the latter’s fiscal standing, though analysts say it’s too early to tell what impact the acquisition will have on Trinity’s balance sheet.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings has stripped the Illinois Institute of Technology of its investment-grade rating and assigned a negative outlook to the school and its $190 million of outstanding revenue bonds, which were issued through the Illinois Finance Authority.

CHICAGO — A hearing set for next week on Chicago’s request that a Cook County Circuit Court judge dismiss an airline lawsuit that seeks to block $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport was pushed back a week as settlement negotiations continue.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear Illinois’ appeal of a lower court decision invalidating the state’s $31 billion capital budget and the funding streams that support it.