Michigan

Wayne County, Michigan’s rating is inching closer to investment grade, progress that should help with plans to borrow as much as $200 million to complete its stalled jail project in downtown Detroit.

The House passed its Water Resources Development Act, which would authorize $170 million to help address Flint, Mich.’s drinking water crisis.

The Michigan Finance Authority completed a private placement of $226.3 million of bonds Thursday to refund Detroit Public Schools paper set to lose its state aid backing Oct. 1.

A group of Democrats and Obama administration officials are urging the Republican-led Congress to include Flint aid in either the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 or the government spending measure that must be passed by the end of the week to avoid a government shutdown.

After turning around its operating performance, the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Bronson Healthcare Group received an upgrade of its credit outlook to stable as it prepares to refund $109 million of debt.

The Michigan Treasury has appointed Michigan State University local government expert Eric Scorsone as senior deputy state treasurer for finance.

The Michigan Finance Authority approved a plan to issue $235 million of debt to refund some Detroit Public Schools bonds before they lose their state aid backing on Oct. 1.

Developers of major “transformational” projects proposed in Michigan would be allowed to capture sales and income taxes related to the project as way to offset the costs of redevelopment under legislation that is headed to the state senate.

A lawsuit filed against the state of Michigan on behalf of 14 local municipalities this month seeks to correct what they contend is a miscalculation in state aid that has shortchanged them for two decades.

The Senate on Thursday passed the long-stalled Water Resources Development Act of 2016 that would provide millions of federal dollars to Flint, Mich. and any other community facing a water crisis.

The unclear future of Detroit Public Schools state-aid backed bonds, plus governance and tax collection issues following the district's restructuring, prompted Moody's Investors Service to shift its outlook to "developing" from "negative."

Detroit Public Schools' $212 million of state aid-backed bonds slipped two to three notches further into junk territory over uncertainty tied to the bonds' security after a restructuring of the school district.

Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, one of the largest healthcare systems in Southeast Michigan, hits the market with an $821 million refunding next week sporting an upgrade from one rating agency and a positive outlook shift from another.

Michigan’s economy has continued to improve without helping the fiscal health of the state’s local governments, according to a new University of Michigan report on the state’s local governments.

The default of some unrated nonprofit project bonds in Michigan and subsequent struggle to recover funds highlights the frustration bondholders sometimes feel in working with trustees, who are tasked with acting as the agents of the investors in distressed and default situations.

The issuers of the Midwest sold $41 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2016, spurred by increased new money issuance, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Michigan's Wayne State University expects to return to the bond market to raise up to $14 million for the new business school for which it broke ground last month.

Bondholders' poor recovery relative to pensioners in Detroit was typical of municipal bankruptcies, as protecting the workforce has outweighed debt repayment in courtrooms across the nation.

Detroit-based law firm Clark Hill is expanding its public finance reach in Michigan with the acquisition of competitor Axe & Ecklund.

The city of Wayne, Michigan lost its investment grade rating amid struggles to erase red ink and faces further credit erosion as it veers toward state oversight.