Minnesota

CHICAGO — Triple-A rated Hennepin County, Minn., today competitively sells $80 million of new-money general obligation bonds to raise funds for an ongoing five-year capital program that was scaled down to $757 million from $900 million to help address a budget crunch.

Midwestern voters head to the polls tomorrow to cast decisions on elected offices, new casinos, and more than 125 ballot questions that would authorize more than $3.3 billion worth of borrowing, led by Detroit Public Schools' $500 million request and $750 million for a new public hospital in Indiana.

CHICAGO — Minnesota’s largest not-for-profit health care provider, Allina Health System, enters the market next week with the first piece of its nearly $400 million new-money and refunding issue with a trifecta of upgrades in hand — a rarity for the hard-hit sector.

CHICAGO — The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission enters the market as soon as tomorrow with its first sale this year, a $156 million refunding that should generate about $7 million in savings to help the agency as it manages through the recession and its impact on air travel and the airlines.

Maple Grove, Minn., has disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service has initiated an audit of $53.8 million of bonds it issued in 2005 to finance renovations and construction to two health care facilities.

Standard & Poor’s raised the city of Victoria’s general obligation rating one notch to AA-plus in recognition of good financial management that has contributed to positive general fund operations and the maintenance of very strong reserves.

CHICAGO — Minnesota today launches its first formal retail-order period for a general obligation sale before opening the $475 million issue of new-money bonds and possibly some refunding bonds to institutional buyers on Thursday.

The Minneapolis Special School District won a one-notch upgrade in its issuer credit rating to AA, Standard & Poor’s reward for management’s successful efforts to control spending and for the fiscal boost provided by voters who recently approved a $60 million annual levy.

CHICAGO — In a transaction that will mark the state’s first-ever use of negotiation to sell its general obligation bonds, Minnesota is putting the finishing touches on a $480 million new-money issue with an eye towards testing retail appetite for its top-rated paper.