Texas

DALLAS - Texas' 254 counties would gain new bonding authority and could team up for long-term project financing under two constitutional amendments awaiting voter approval next week.

The Pasadena Independent School District is seeking approval from voters next week for $270.1 million of general obligation bonds to finance new facilities needed to accommodate the Houston-area district’s rapid growth.

DALLAS - With financing already in place, the Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday agreed to begin seeking design-build credentials for an $815 million network of interstate highway interchanges and bridges in Dallas.

DALLAS - Two members of the North Texas Tollway Authority board are expected to submit resignations unrelated to a current Federal Bureau of Investigation probe of the board's business practices, according to reports.

DALLAS - School districts across Texas are lining up to join one of three filed or anticipated lawsuits that contend the state's system for funding public education is unconstitutional.

DALLAS - With its population expected to nearly double to 46 million in 50 years, Texas is confronting one factor that could impede that growth: a shortage of water and the money needed to keep it flowing.

A proposed $158 million bond issue in the Lake Travis Independent School District is drawing opposition from a group that claims the debt would be too large for the district.

DALLAS - Some board members of the North Texas Tollway Authority appear to have conflicts of interest involving business ties or family members, but the agency lacks clear policies regulating the conflicts, according to a consultant's review.

DALLAS - With its first financing for a project in Fort Worth, the North Texas Tollway Authority is expanding its role as the major regional road builder as it faces new scrutiny over its business practices.

September sales tax revenues of $1.76 billion mark the 18th consecutive month that Texas collections have risen, according to Comptroller Susan Combs.

DALLAS - Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office rejected doubling the salary of the Texas Department of Transportation's executive director but did authorize a salary above a statutory maximum of $292,500, officials said.

DALLAS - Phil Wilson, a former aide to Gov. Rick Perry recently named executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, should be paid twice as much as his predecessor, according to the new chairman of the board that oversees TxDOT.

DALLAS - A coalition of school districts and taxpayers has filed suit in a Travis County state court to overturn Texas' system for funding public education.

DALLAS - Standard & Poor's on Tuesday lowered $35.8 million of outstanding Texas Midwest Public Facility Corp.'s 2009 revenue bonds to D from CC after the issuer defaulted on debt service for its vacant private jail in Jones County.

DALLAS — A lengthy drought is putting a stranglehold on Texas water utilities that can only be alleviated by significant rainfall this winter, Fitch Ratings said in a new report assessing the economic impact of months of no or below-average rainfall in the Lone Star State.

The North Texas Tollway Authority last week approved the sale of bonds for Chisholm Trail Parkway in Fort Worth under the agency’s special projects system.

Gillespie County in central Texas has hired an Austin construction management firm to help it plan for an election in November 2012 for $10.5 million of general obligation bonds to build a new jail in Fredericksburg.

DALLAS - As Austin begins mapping its next bond program, the triple-A Texas capital is taking advantage of low interest rates with a $93 million refunding this week.

DALLAS - Tax revenues that have rebounded to pre-recession levels will bring Texas' rainy-day fund to $7 billion by the time lawmakers begin development of the next two-year state budget.

DALLAS - Harris County, Texas, is seeking $484,000 through mediation with Morgan Stanley for alleged overpayment of fees after reaching a $659,000 settlement with UBS, officials said.