South Dakota

Proponents of a measure to increase South Dakota’s sales tax to fund K-12 and Medicaid said they have gathered more than twice the required signatures to put it on next year’s ballot.

Regional Health, the dominant health care provider in western South Dakota, will enter the market Thursday with $181 million of bonds.

South Dakota state officials said last week they had reached an agreement on a new gambling contract with the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe just days before the start of a federal trial over the dispute.

CHICAGO — Standard & Poor’s boosted the issuer credit rating of South Dakota to AA-plus from AA, citing the state’s strong reserves and low long-term debts.

CHICAGO — South Dakota lawmakers have approved a $3.9 billion all-funds fiscal 2012 budget that fulfills Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s promise to eliminate the state’s structural deficit within one year without dipping into reserves or raising taxes.

CHICAGO — The South Dakota Housing Development Authority is offering homebuyers the lowest interest rate in its history, thanks to recent changes in the federal New Issue Bond Program.

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 — South Dakota’s Regional Health today will offer $57 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds that will be used to fund various capital projects and refund a chunk of fixed-rate debt to achieve savings.

CHICAGO — Double-A rated South Dakota closed fiscal 2010 without tapping into state reserves to wipe out an estimated $3.5 million deficit.

CHICAGO — South Dakota lawmakers will attempt to hash out a final $4 billion budget for fiscal 2011 next week after suspending debate earlier this month to see if the state would receive up to $36 million in federal stimulus money that could be used to eliminate a deficit that’s roughly the same size.

A handful of Midwestern state housing authorities, most of them shut out of the credit market this year, are acting to take advantage of the U.S. government's temporary new-issue bond program to jump-start their ability to provide new mortgages.

CHICAGO — The economies of Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas have emerged as some of the healthiest in the U.S., enjoying a rare stability anchored by strong commodity prices while largely escaping the strains posed in other states by the housing market’s collapse and high unemployment.

CHICAGO — Rapid City, S.D., will enter the market Tuesday with $44 million of water revenue bonds, a relatively large borrowing for the single-A rated home of the Mt. Rushmore National Monument.