Missouri

CHICAGO — Voters in Kansas City and St. Louis will cast votes Tuesday on whether their cities can continue collecting one of their main sources of revenues — a 1% tax on wages and salaries — in a decision that stands to impact their credit ratings.

Moody’s Investors Service last week affirmed Jefferson Regional Medical Center’s Baa2 underlying rating but revised its outlook to positive from stable due to its continued strong operating profitability, improved liquidity, and favorable debt coverage measures.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin last week announced a $685 million agreement that advances plans for a high-speed rail network between Chicago and St. Louis.

CHICAGO — Kansas City, Mo., will enter the market later this month with a $55 million new-money and refunding general obligation issue that comes as the city is bracing for a public vote next month on whether the city can continue to collect an earnings tax that serves as its main revenue source.

CHICAGO — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon unveiled a $23.1 billion budget for fiscal 2012 that relies on spending and job cuts and modest debt-restructuring savings to compensate for the end of federal stimulus funds, as officials anticipate a return to revenue growth.

Missouri expects to collect an additional 4% in revenues during fiscal 2012, according to the latest revenue forecast that Gov. Jay Nixon will use to craft the next budget.

St. Louis County may ask voters to approve $100 million of borrowing on the April ballot to finance construction of a new family courts building and renovations to its circuit courts building, according to published reports.

With an upgrade in hand, the University of Missouri System will enter the market Wednesday with up to $265 million of Build America Bonds to fund improvements at various campuses and its health care facilities.

CHICAGO — Two Midwestern joint-power agencies will enter a crowded field of borrowers this week with deals that include a mix of tax-exempt securities and taxable Build America Bonds to finance their share of $1 billion in cost overruns for the Prairie State Energy Campus.

CHICAGO — Missouri’s passage of a ballot measure that threatens Kansas City and St. Louis’ long-term collection of a 1% earnings tax could stress both cities’ credits, Moody’s Investors Service warned in its weekly credit outlook released Monday.

CHICAGO — Midwestern voters next week go to the polls to decide the fate of $2.16 billion worth of borrowing requests, choose new governors, and decide spending and taxing measures.

CHICAGO — The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission will take competitive bids Wednesday on a $140 million refunding of top-rated senior-lien state road bonds in hopes of achieving about 6% to 7% in present-value savings.

CHICAGO — The St. Louis Metro will complete a ­refunding Wednesday of its $150 million floating-rate revenue bond issue from 2005, using a ­structure that provides a short-term salve for its fiscal challenges while the transit agency awaits a bump in sales tax dollars from a voter-approved increase.

CHICAGO — Branson Airport LLC in Missouri has proposed borrowing up to $17 million of unrated tax-exempt revenue bonds to cover final construction costs and bolster reserve funds tapped to help cover interest payments on $113 million of debt issued in 2007 to finance the privately built and operated airport.

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 — Fitch Ratings on Monday downgraded more than $220 million of general airport revenue bonds issued for Kansas City International Airport by one notch due to a decline in debt-service coverage ratios and increased exposure to non-airline related revenues.

CHICAGO — Branson Airport LLC dipped into reserves to cover its July 1 debt-service payment on $113 million of unrated tax-exempt bonds as it struggles to meet traffic projections for the privately built and operated Missouri facility.

CHICAGO — St. Louis voters will cast ballots Tuesday on a $155 million bond referendum to finance improvements at the city’s public schools.

CHICAGO — The managers of the bondholder-owned St. Louis convention center hotel complex presented a more upbeat revenue forecast for the facilities in a financial update last week, according to a new investor notice.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday signed reform legislation that will require new state employees to contribute to their retirement fund and to work longer before collecting their pensions.