Texas

DALLAS — Moody's Investors Service has declared the acquisition of the Bexar Metropolitan Water District by the larger San Antonio Water System a credit positive event for both utilities.

DALLAS — As Texas' fastest-growing county, Williamson County, north of Austin, has seen its debt rise rapidly to keep up with demand for roads, parks and services.

DALLAS — As springtime rains replenish depleted reservoirs, the Texas Water Development Board is going back to the well for $137 million of general obligation bonds to finance loans to local utilities.

Texas sales tax revenues exceeded $2 billion again in February, Comptroller Susan Combs said last week.

DALLAS — The Texas Department of Transportation plans on leveraging up to $2 billion more than expected over the next two years after reassessing federal revenues and construction costs, officials said.

DALLAS — Dallas may finance a $300 million drainage project with revenue bonds rather than with proceeds from a $500 million general obligation package expected to go to voters in November.

DALLAS — Voters in North Richland Hills, Texas, will decide May 12 on $48 million of general obligation bonds to build a new municipal complex in the Fort Worth suburb.

DALLAS — The triple-A rated Dallas suburb of Irving will spend $200,000 to obtain separate ratings on a potential bond issue for a $210 million entertainment center backed by public and private funds.

DALLAS — As George Bush Intercontinental Airport's $1 billion redevelopment gets under way, Houston will issue $520 million of refunding bonds for the facility Tuesday, the largest deal of the year so far in Texas.

Trustees of the New Caney Independent School District in Texas have set a May 12 election for a $97.5 million general obligation bond proposal.

DALLAS — A panel of 22 Texas lawmakers has been formed to conduct a comprehensive review of the state's school finance system in the wake of five recent lawsuits challenging how Texas funds local school districts.

Austin is refunding the first debt it issued for an ambitious flood-protection project that is finally underway along downtown's Waller Creek, after decades of planning.

Attorneys representing a group of Texas parents filed the fifth in a series of lawsuits Friday seeking to have the state's public education system declared unconstitutional.

DALLAS — A nonprofit public charter school will sell revenue bonds in April for new facilities through a conduit issuer approved Wednesday by the Dallas City Council.

The North Texas Tollway Authority is seeking two financial advisors after opening up its bidding process under new board policies.

DALLAS — An Austin citizens bond development committee must cut by more than half a list of potential projects to be financed by a general obligation bond package going to voters in November.

The $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal scheduled for completion in 2014 has sparked billions of dollars worth of highway, rail and port projects in Texas as the state races to complete construction in time for the expected surge in trade traffic.

The San Antonio City Council last week set May 12 as the election date for the city’s request for $596 million of general obligation bond authority for infrastructure improvements.

AUSTIN — Texas public school districts will face financial stresses in educating Texans to the level needed to sustain economic development, according to education officials and financial professionals at The Bond Buyer’s 16th annual Texas Public Finance Conference.

Texas has emerged from the recession with its credit intact, but the state faces major adjustments to environmental patterns and demographics that are likely to affect long-term investors, experts told the Texas Public Finance Conference here Monday.