Michigan

Michigan State University today will price $229 million of general revenue bonds to refund outstanding variable-rate debt and commercial paper and pay termination fees related to interest rate swaps.

Michigan would see a relatively minor impact on its fiscal position as a result of the new federal health care law, according to an analysis by the Legislature’s Senate Fiscal Agency.

CHICAGO — Michigan State University on Thursday will price $205 million of 40-year taxable Build America Bonds for capital projects. The school in May expects to offer a pair of refunding transactions that will restructure some of its variable-rate demand bonds and refund outstanding commercial paper.

CHICAGO — Detroit Mayor Dave Bing yesterday unveiled a much-anticipated 2011 budget proposal that relies on a series of relatively modest spending cuts to whittle down the deficit while putting on hold bold initiatives to securitize assets to raise new money.

CHICAGO — Henry Ford Health System could spend up to $1 billion in a massive expansion plan that would include a $500 million investment in its flagship Detroit facility, the provider said this week.

CHICAGO — The Detroit City Council Tuesday voted against Michigan legislation that would dissolve the city’s two main pension fund boards and transfer management of the two funds to a nonprofit group in Lansing.

CHICAGO — The Michigan Municipal Bond Authority is expected to enter the market today with $255 million of notes to help cover Detroit Public Schools’ anticipated fiscal 2010 cash shortfall.

CHICAGO — Detroit-based Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC, Michigan’s top bond counsel firm, has tapped long-time public finance attorney Amanda Van Dusen to lead the public finance group.

CHICAGO — Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he was “elated” by Friday’s announcement that a for-profit health care system is interested in buying the Detroit Medical Center — Michigan’s largest charity-care provider — and infusing $800 million into the center’s Detroit campus.

A Korean battery maker said it would build a $303 million plant to make electric car batteries in the town of Holland.

Officials at the Livonia Public Schools in Wayne County are considering privatizing the district's custodial staff, bus drivers, and food service workers in an effort to offset an expected deficit of nearly $15 million in this year's $140 million budget.

CHICAGO — With a pledge by Michigan backing up the debt, below-investment-grade Detroit yesterday captured interest rates ranging from 2.47% to 5.375% on $250 million of distributable state aid limited-tax general obligation bonds.

CHICAGO — Detroit will enter the market Thursday with $250 million of state aid limited-tax general obligation bonds that the city will use to erase a chunk of its accumulated deficit.

CHICAGO — Michigan would abolish its 10 bond-issuing authorities and consolidate them into the newly created Michigan Finance Authority under an executive order issued by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week.

CHICAGO — Voters across Michigan approved a series of school bond proposals in Tuesday’s election, while splitting on controversial tax increases proposed by two struggling cities in Oakland County.

More than a third of Detroit’s residential lots are either vacant or contain abandoned buildings, but more than 90% of the remaining occupied parcels are in good or fair condition, according to a massive new report on the city’s housing stock that was released last week.

The Michigan Department of Transportation says a report released this week confirms the need for a proposed $2.3 billion, bond-financed bridge spanning the busy trade route between Detroit and Canada.

Troy and Bloomfield Township voters in a special election next week will consider ballot initiatives to raise property taxes to avoid cuts. Officials say the new revenue is needed to cover expected declines in property tax revenue over the next several years.

CHICAGO — Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm yesterday unveiled a $47 billion all-funds fiscal 2011 budget that eliminates a $1.8 billion shortfall in part by imposing a tax on services and cutting state employee retirement and health care benefits.

Over the past three years, 38 of Michigan’s counties have returned their roads to gravel because they lacked the money needed to maintain their paved infrastructure — and this year nearly half of the state’s counties will be faced with making the same decision, the County Road Association of Michigan warned last week.