Michigan

CHICAGO - The chair of a Senate subcommittee in Michigan Wednesday abruptly put off a key vote on a $4 billion, partly bond-funded bridge linking Detroit and Canada.

Michigan could see an unexpected surplus of nearly $300 million for fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded Lansing to A1 from Aa2, warning that the Michigan capital faces significant declines in property valuation and has a history of operating deficits.

CHICAGO - A close look at Flint, Mich.'s long-standing fiscal problems provides a glimpse into the challenges facing many of America's older industrial cities, according to a case study released last week by Michigan public finance scholars.

A possible state-ordered takeover of Flint advanced last week when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed a financial review team to examine the troubled city’s finances.

CHICAGO - Detroit Public Schools' new chief financial officer says the district's upcoming $239 million deficit bond sale will help put it on the road to stable fiscal health, allowing it to avoid the short-term borrowing it has relied on for years and erase a chunk of its structural deficit.

CHICAGO - Gov. Rick Snyder is pushing a measure to eliminate or trim Michigan's personal property tax, which could pressure localities that rely on the money for operating costs and debt repayment, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency and local government proponents.

CHICAGO - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder this week unveiled $145 million of proposed cuts, mostly tied to the correctional system, to balance the budget as the state embarks on a fresh fiscal year starting Saturday.

CHICAGO — Michigan-based Trinity Health Corp. will bring the year's largest health care deal to market next week when it sells $648 million of debt, some of which will finance its recent acquisition of Loyola University Health System.

Miller Canfield attorney Michael McGee has been tapped to serve on the board of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, an independent research group, for the 2011-12 term, the firm announced Monday.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder last week signed into law a measure that will allow Highland Park to refinance and provide additional security for its outstanding financial recovery bonds.

CHICAGO - Ann Arbor in on track to become the first city in Michigan to launch a bond-backed energy efficiency program authorized in state legislation adopted last year.

CHICAGO - A new independent study on a controversial plan to build a publicly funded bridge in Michigan says proposed bond covenants would protect state taxpayers if toll revenues fall short of expectations, but that interest rate costs could push the price tag past $4 billion.

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke last week offered a bill that would require all federal taxes paid in Detroit to be reinvested back into the city for the next five years.

Members of the Michigan Legislature’s Senate Economic Development Committee said they would extend a series of hearings on whether to advance a plan to build a $3.8 billion, publicly funded bridge spanning the busy trade route between Detroit and Canada.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is expected to hand over management of a high-profile, $528 million light-rail project to the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.

CHICAGO - In another move aimed at helping fiscally stressed municipalities enter the bond market, Michigan lawmakers have sent Gov. Rick Snyder legislation that would allow them to refinance outstanding financial recovery debt.

CHICAGO - Detroit Public Schools hopes to enter the market in the next two weeks to float a deficit bond issue that would eliminate two-thirds of its red ink.

Wayne County officials will break ground Thursday morning on a new $300 million, mostly bond-financed lockup in downtown Detroit.

Chicago-based Mercy Hospital is discussing some form of a union with Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health Corp., according to published reports.