Texas

DALLAS - The Tomball Hospital Authority near Houston has called or defeased its $111.4 million of tax-exempt bond debt after the sale of the Tomball Regional Medical Center to for-profit Community Health Systems.

DALLAS - With municipal bond volume running about as low as the water levels in its reservoirs, Texas' Lower Colorado River Authority will supply a parched market with $595 million of refunding revenue bonds this week.

Trustees of Arlington Independent School District last week authorized the refunding of $19.5 million of outstanding debt from a 2003 bond issue.

An updated report issued last week by the Texas Water Development Board said it will cost $53 billion over the next 50 years to build the new reservoirs, pipelines, treatment plants and other water infrastructure needed to keep the state from drying up.

New facilities and upgrades financed by the Forth Worth Independent School District’s $593.6 million bond program will benefit students for many years, superintendent Walter Dansby said last week.

DALLAS - Two former aides to Texas Gov. Rick Perry now hold top positions at the Texas Department of Transportation after former energy lobbyist and secretary of state Phil Wilson was named the agency's executive director.

DALLAS - Texas' chief revenue estimator told lawmakers Wednesday that revenues probably will not climb much this fiscal year, dimming hopes of avoiding another budget shortfall in two years.

DALLAS - Dallas Area Rapid Transit plans a 16% increase in debt service as it continues to expand its light-rail system under the fiscal 2012 budget that begins Saturday.

DALLAS - More than 100 school districts in Texas have passed board resolutions to join a promised legal challenge seeking to reconfigure the state's system for financing public education.

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday lowered the outlook on Weslaco’s BBB-plus-rated general obligation debt to negative from stable.

DALLAS - With its debt already at a record level, the North Texas Tollway Authority waived a $3.2 billion project offered by the Texas Department of Transportation.

DALLAS - Texas Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, outlined a 10-part, 10-year plan Tuesday to build an academic hospital and medical school at the University of Texas in Austin.

Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District said it saved $16.5 million of interest costs with the first sale from its $124.5 million bond package approved by voters in May.

San Antonio Independent School District trustees voted last week to be a party in a proposed lawsuit seeking to overturn the system for allocating state funds to public school districts.

DALLAS - Laredo, Texas, an unlikely home for professional ice hockey, is expanding its role in minor-league sports with a baseball stadium financed with $11.3 million of sales-tax revenue bonds.

Texas sales tax collections totaled $1.98 billion in August, the highest monthly total in three years, Comptroller Susan Combs said last week.

Voters in the Boerne Independent School District will decide Nov. 8 on a three-part, $87.8 million general obligation bond package set for election last week by district trustees.

Trustees of San Antonio’s Harlandale Independent School District voted last week to waive attorney-client privilege so its law firm can cooperate with the Bexar County district attorney in a probe into a school bond program.

DALLAS - The Texas A&M University System is giving a lean muni market a taste of its top-rated debt Wednesday with $87.2 million of bonds backed by the Texas Permanent University Fund.

DALLAS - After achieving its lowest short-term rates ever on $9.8 billion of tax and revenue anticipation notes, Texas will see what the long-term market has to offer in a $116 million deal next week.