Texas

Bexar County plans to refund $332.7 million of bonds backed by venue and car rental taxes. The previously issued debt financed improvements to AT&T Center sports arena and San Antonio's tourism projects.

More than 16 years after Dallas voters approved $246 million of bonds for development of parks and a "parkway" between the levees of the Trinity River, the city still has work to do. The "parkway" has become a proposed high-speed toll road whose financing is still undetermined. Meanwhile, bond money is continuing to build bridges, trails and nature centers in the 10,000-acre area designated as the Trinity River Corridor.

San Antonio is planning to issue more than $600 million of bonds this month and next for its water and electric utilities, with most of the proceeds going toward refunding.

In its only bond deal this year, Dallas expects to raise about $530 million for new money and refunding, including debt authorized for the Trinity River Corridor Project in 1998.

After a record year of bond issuance, the Texas Department of Transportation has reduced its borrowing costs by $425 million through refunding at historically low interest rates, officials said.

Fifteen years after opening at the site of the former Bergstrom Air Force Base, Austin Bergstrom International Airport is expanding through its $600 million capital improvement program. The project includes expansion of the terminal and aircraft apron, new baggage systems, accommodations for international flights, a new parking garage and consolidated rental car center.

Austin's $275 million of revenue bonds scheduled for pricing Dec. 9 will allow the city's growing airport to accommodate more international flights as it improves parking for aircraft and cars.

The Texas Transportation Commission plans to start 2015 with a $1.6 billion refunding of most of the debt issued for the Central Texas Turnpike System.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking a buyer for the Lakeway Regional Medical Center after the Austin area hospital defaulted on a $164 million HUD-guaranteed mortgage.

Less than a month after voters approved a record $748 million of bonds, the Katy Independent School District near Houston will refund $139 million of previously issued debt with a boost in its underlying credit rating.

A registered investment advisor who worked with Texas Attorney General-elect Ken Paxton could lose his securities license after a hearing Jan. 27. Paxton was fined and reprimanded for violating state securities laws in directing business to Mowery.

Dallas Independent School District joins the year-end parade to the refunding market with $222.6 million of bonds expected to price Dec. 2

University of Houston president and chancellor Renu Khator will become chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 2015. Khator will be replaced as deputy chair by BNSF Railway Co. executive chairman Matthew K. Rose.

Texas Children's Hospital plans to add a 19-story tower to its Texas Medical Center campus in Houston as part of a $475 million expansion plan.

San Antonio has agreed to make $43 million of improvements to the 21-year-old Alamodome stadium in its winning bid to host the 2018 NCAA Final Four men's basketball tournament.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank has hired a search firm to find a replacement for President Richard Fisher, who plans to leave the post on March 19.

As Dallas Area Rapid Transit prepares for a $430 million refunding issue this month, the transit agency is also mapping plans for nearly $1 billion of downtown projects linked to a proposed high-speed rail line and the city’s convention center hotel.

Voters across Texas approved $5.59 billion of the more than $6.8 billion of bonds on the ballot, according to the Austin consulting firm Strategic Partnerships Inc.

Joining a year-end rush to market, the Texas Transportation Commission plans to offer $1.4 billion of top-rated general obligation bonds in December.

The University of Texas System could see savings of 10% on an advance refunding of $250 million of bonds expected to price Nov. 12.