New York

New York Gov. David ­Paterson proposed an all-funds $134 billion fiscal 2011 budget yesterday that keeps spending growth below 1%. The proposed budget would close a $7.4 billion deficit primarily through a series of cuts, but also through tax and fee increases.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will begin consolidating internal departments and maximizing its resources to produce savings and make the system more efficient, agency chairman and chief executive officer Jay Walder announced Friday.

The New York Legislature yesterday offered an ethics and campaign finance reform package with much less punch than a proposal offered by Gov. David Paterson last week.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to repeat a novel approach to accessing low rates at a time when liquidity costs makes traditional variable-rate financing pricey.

The expiration two years ago of the law allowing the 116 industrial development agencies in New York to sell bonds on behalf of nonprofits is changing the landscape for borrowers and issuers.

The Empire State Development Corp., one of New York’s largest issuers of bonds, could be merged with the state Department of Economic Development under a proposal announced by Gov. David Paterson yesterday. The new entity would be called the Job Development Corp.

The risk of a downgrade to New York’s general obligation debt isn’t being priced into the state’s bonds, an investment management firm said in a report released Friday.

Two of New York’s top affordable housing officials have landed at private firms after announcing their resignations from public posts last month.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority should prioritize which services could be restored if the New York Legislature finds additional funding, a state lawmaker said at a hearing yesterday.

New York Gov. David Paterson yesterday called on the Legislature to change the way it crafts budgets in order to address the state’s fiscal mess.

Gary Dellaverson, chief financial officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, retired last week after 19 years at the agency.

Across the country and in New York City, museums and other cultural institutions are trying to cope with lower revenue brought on by big declines in donations and losses on investments even as admissions hold steady.

Incoming New York City Comptroller John Liu is keeping deputy comptroller for public finance Carol Kostik in her current job of working with the mayor’s budget office to put together the city’s bond deals.

Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's revenue bonds and dedicated tax-fund bonds to negative from stable last week.

When federal stimulus money runs out after 2010, New York school districts could face a $2 billion funding gap, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said last week.

The Brooklyn Arena Development Corp. on Wednesday closed on the sale of $511 million of tax-exempt bonds to partially finance the controversial $1.06 billion Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority did not violate New York laws when it agreed to sell the development rights over rail yards in Brooklyn to Forest City Ratner Cos., a state Supreme Court judge ruled last week.

Natural gas drilling in upstate New York could force New York City to build a multibillion-dollar water filtration plant, substantially raising water rates in the city, says a report released last week by the city's Independent Budget Office.

New York Gov. David Paterson's order to withhold $582 million of payments from school districts was unconstitutional, plaintiffs charged in a lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Albany yesterday.

In a reprise of last year, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday passed a "doomsday" budget that slashes services, but on a delayed schedule.