Indiana

CHICAGO — Transit advocates in central Indiana plan to push forward with a high-profile regional transportation plan that features a $2.5 billion mass-transit expansion despite opposition from Republican leaders.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis would float $86 million of tax-increment financing bonds to finance construction of a new corporate campus for Eli Lilly and Co.— the pharmaceutical giant that is the city’s top private-sector employer — under a plan Mayor Greg Ballard will submit to the City-County Council next week.

Scaling down local government and expanding public-private partnerships for infrastructure are among Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels top priorities for the upcoming legislative session, the governor said Thursday morning at a press conference.

CHICAGO — Indiana’s Purdue University will price $171 million of new-money and refunding bonds Thursday, and follow the sale with a $117 million borrowing in the next few weeks that will mark its fourth trip to market this year.

CHICAGO — Midwestern voters next week go to the polls to decide the fate of $2.16 billion worth of borrowing requests, choose new governors, and decide spending and taxing measures.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said he would revise key terms of a proposal to lease city parking meters to a private company for 50 years amid rising criticism from members of the Indianapolis and Marion County City-County Council.

CHICAGO — Indiana auditors warned that the long-struggling city of Gary could face insolvency as it tries to overcome massive drops in property tax revenue tied to the state’s two-year-old tax cap legislation.

CHICAGO — Indiana voters in November are expected to approve a ballot measure to make the state’s property-tax caps permanent — a move some local officials say could deepen the chill on local government borrowing that’s settled over the state since the caps were enacted in 2008.

CHICAGO — Public power agencies in Indiana and Ohio plan to return to the market this month with their final borrowings for the Prairie State coal-fired plant project that has risen in cost by more than $1 billion to $4 billion.

CHICAGO — A local dispute over a $150 million performing arts center prompted the Indiana attorney general last week to issue an opinion ruling that redevelopment commissions can issue some types of debt without the approval of a city’s legislative body.

CHICAGO — A month after winning city and county approval to sell its water and sewer system, Indianapolis stands poised to enter into a 50-year lease of its parking meters in exchange for cash and a piece of the annual parking revenue.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said Indiana's education budgets are likely to be spared additional cuts if revenues remain at their current levels. Late last year he ordered $300 million cut from the K-12 budget and $150 million from the higher-education budget to help offset declining revenues. The K-12 budget accounts for more than half of the state's general fund.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has tapped budget director Chris Ruhl as head of the state's Office of Management and Budget.

CHICAGO — Midwestern bond issuance leaped by 32.5% to $39.8 billion for the first six months of the year, due primarily to Illinois’ borrowing spree to finance its $31 billion capital program and its use of debt for budgetary relief.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis-Marion County City County Council Monday night approved a high-profile plan to sell the city’s water and sewer systems to a local nonprofit utility.

CHICAGO — Indiana Treasurer Richard Murdock has tapped finance veteran Lisa Cottingham to serve as the new director of the Indiana Bond Bank, one of the state’s largest borrowers.

CHICAGO — Indiana drained nearly half of its prized $1.3 billion reserve fund last year to offset revenue collections that tumbled more than $1 billion below original budget projections.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis’ Capital Improvement Board will vote Friday on a plan to pay the Indiana Pacers $33.5 million over the next three years to keep the professional basketball team in town.

CHICAGO — Whiting, Ind., is selling $18.3 million of tax increment revenue bonds Thursday to finance a development on the city’s Lake Michigan lakefront.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis and the Indiana Pacers are expected to sign a short-term lease to keep the team in town as talks continue over whether the city will take over paying $18 million in annual operating costs at the Conseco Fieldhouse, which the team has previously paid.