Michigan

CHICAGO — The Wayne County, Mich., Board of Commissioners last week gave preliminary approval to $700 million of debt to build a large new criminal justice complex in downtown Detroit.

CHICAGO — Michigan fiscal analysts estimate that up to 15% of $1 billion of special assessment debt issued by local governments to finance residential growth is at risk for default.

CHICAGO — Detroit’s fiscal problems could act as a contagion for local governments across Michigan and the state itself, driving up borrowing costs and restricting access to credit, warns a new report by the Legislature’s independent Senate Fiscal Agency.

CHICAGO — Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health Credit Group, one of the country’s largest health care systems, enters the market Wednesday with $276 million of debt.

Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said he was "very, very happy" with the final interest rates the troubled district saw on its $210 million stimulus-related borrowing Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is promoting an investment in Wednesday’s $210 million sale of taxable stimulus bonds as an investment in both the troubled district and the future of Detroit.

CHICAGO — Detroit Public Schools will hit the market Tuesday, taking retail orders on roughly $210 million of debt and opening it up to institutional buyers Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Michigan lawmakers Wednesday were expected to wrap up the final $46.7 billion all-funds budget for 2011 as the state heads into a new fiscal year Friday.

CHICAGO — Michigan’s largest charity-care provider, already junk-rated, saw its outlook revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service Monday.

CHICAGO — Detroit-based law firm Lewis & Munday PC has been on a small hiring spree since last year and has opened an office in New York with an eye on Connecticut.

CHICAGO — Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Bronson Methodist Hospital next Tuesday is expected to enter the muni market with $200 million of mostly refunding bonds that will shift nearly all of its debt into a fixed-rate mode.

CHICAGO — Michigan legislators have paused their campaigning to return to Lansing today to try to hammer out a final state budget and avoid a government shutdown for the first time in years.

CHICAGO — Detroit-area hospitals plan to spend up to $1.3 billion on capital projects over the next several years in the hopes of creating a medical industry to help replace the city’s vanishing manufacturing base, according to a new report.

CHICAGO — Birmingham, Mich.-based law firm Clark Hill PLC has hired veteran attorney Robert Schwartz to expand its public finance practice.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm Wednesday unveiled a deficit-elimination plan that features cuts and a handful of one-time revenue measures, including restructuring a chunk of the state's outstanding general obligation debt.

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 Michigan Finance Authority plans to enter the market Thursday to sell $198 million of one-year notes on behalf of the Detroit Public Schools.

CHICAGO — Michigan voters approved a slew of local borrowing and millage-increase proposals in Tuesday’s primary election, supporting a range of capital projects and funding transportation, library, and public safety budgets.

CHICAGO — Michigan environmental officials are hoping to divert up to $200 million from $1 billion of voter-authorized clean water bonding to replenish a bankrupt brownfield cleanup program.

CHICAGO — Michigan voters head to the polls Tuesday to choose party candidates for a hotly contested November general election that features an unusually large number of open seats and will determine control of the Legislature.