Ohio

Fitch Ratings has placed six Ohio port authority pooled loan programs on negative watch while it reviews the process used to rate them.

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 — The Ohio Water Development Authority will price $451 million of triple-A rated water pollution control bonds Thursday, the bulk of which will be taxable Build America Bonds.

CHICAGO — The Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Public Library will enter the debt market for the first time Wednesday with a $75 million borrowing.

CHICAGO — Ohio will price $50 million of taxable general obligation bonds Tuesday to finance bonuses for veterans of recent wars in the Middle East.

CHICAGO — Triple-A rated Columbus plans to enter the market next week with $432 million of general obligation bonds in a deal that marks its annual outing to raise funds for capital projects.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings stripped $9.3 million of special-assessment revenue bonds from the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority of their investment-grade rating Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is resuming a push to install 17,500 slot machines at horseracing tracks to generate millions in new money for the state budget.

CHICAGO — With an expanded PACE program now in place, some Ohio issuers are saying they will continue to pursue commercial PACE financing despite greater federal scrutiny of the program’s residential side.

CHICAGO — Cincinnati today will take institutional orders on $70 million of general obligation, unlimited-tax debt that is part of the city’s regular borrowing to finance capital projects.

CHICAGO — A developer’s default on $14.1 million of special assessment bonds in Wood County, Ohio, has sparked a dispute between the bond trustee and the county treasurer over the tax-lien sale of the property.

CHICAGO — Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Investment Co. has hired Timothy Reidy as the new director of its Cleveland public finance office.

CHICAGO — Ohio began its new fiscal year with revenues down only slightly from expectations and a surplus of just under $140 million, but the good news ends there as the state is bracing for a deficit that could be higher than $8 billion as it heads into a new biennial budget next year.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Water Development Authority today will begin pricing $27.3 million of water development revenue bonds to provide loans for weakly rated municipalities across the state.

CHICAGO — The University of Cincinnati Thursday will price $128 million of debt that includes a mix of new-money and refunding tax-exempt bonds, taxable Build America Bonds, and notes. Roughly half of the long-term borrowing is earmarked for the renovation of the university’s Medical Science Building.

CHICAGO — Ohio’s bankrupt Forum Health this week announced an agreement to sell its assets to a for-profit health care provider, marking the third proposed sale of a financially struggling nonprofit provider to a for-profit entity in the last few months.

CHICAGO — The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority will enter the market Thursday with $75 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds to finance part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s $350 million expansion.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Legislature last week passed a measure creating a new bond-issuing authority to help finance an expansion of an 88-acre conservatory near downtown Columbus.

CHICAGO — Ohio-based public finance law firm Peck, Shaffer & Williams LLP has hired a new associate for its Cincinnati office.

CHICAGO — A report reviewing the Cleveland Municipal School District’s bond practices recommends that it opt for competitive over negotiated bond sales when issuing general obligation debt to ensure the lowest borrowing costs.