Texas

DALLAS — When the Texas Legislature convenes in January, the top priority is expected to be the estimated $25 billion budget shortfall and ongoing problems with education funding.

DALLAS — The Texas attorney general’s office filed papers in a Dallas County state district court Wednesday rejecting the effort by Irving to divert state taxes to support city bonds for a $250 million entertainment complex in the Dallas suburb.

Trustees of the Austin Community College District were expected on Tuesday night to approve a truncated sale of $33.5 million of Build America Bonds to build a campus that will serve a new area that joined the district in November.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is restructuring its management in the wake of a funding controversy involving light-rail expansion in the Houston area.

DALLAS — Just seven weeks after voters approved a record $515 million bond package, the San Antonio Independent School District is ready to price the first $150 million Tuesday.

DALLAS — Top Texas leaders have asked state agencies to cut their fiscal 2011 budgets by 2.5% due to lower-than-expected revenue during the first year of the state’s current two-year budget cycle.

San Antonio this week plans to price $101 million of airport revenue bonds with an increasingly unusual feature — bond insurance.

A report by two state agencies determined that if Texas withdrew from the Medicaid health care program, it would cost the state $15 billion a year in federal funds.

Houston finance director Michelle Mitchell resigned last week, saying she wanted to re-enter the private sector after four years with the largest city in Texas.

A proposed bond-financed entertainment complex in Irving, Tex,, won't generate sufficient revenue to support the debt on the facility, according to a new financial study by opponents of the project.

DALLAS — Transportation officials are considering funding options for a $4.4 billion expansion of Interstate 35E between Dallas and Denton that could be the largest of several major projects in the area.

DALLAS – Dallas and the Tarrant Regional Water District will share financing on a $1.6 billion pipeline that will carry water 149 miles from Lake Palestine in East Texas.

DALLAS — Under pressure to issue bonds before the end of the year for a $250 million entertainment center amid falling revenue, Irving, Tex., now faces an investigation into questionable expenses by the city’s private partner on the project.

DALLAS — The ­Harris County Houston Sports ­Authority moved closer to using insurance to cover bond payments after dipping into debt-service reserves for the first time this month.

DALLAS — Amid a flood of municipal issuance in the last six weeks of the year, the North Texas Tollway Authority will bring around $1.5 billion of debt to market, starting with nearly $500 million of tax-exempt refunding revenue bonds this week.

DALLAS — Bexar County, Tex., has earned an upgrade from Standard & Poor’s to A from A-minus on its venue project revenue bonds as it goes to market with $64 million of debt backed by tourism-related taxes.

DALLAS — The Texas Public Finance Authority approved plans Tuesday to issue more than $2 billion of revenue bonds to repay an advance from the U.S. Treasury Department for unemployment compensation.

DALLAS — Houston will take advantage of historically low interest rates with a $527 million deal divided between taxable and tax-exempt bonds that for the most part will refinance outstanding commercial paper.

The chief financial officer of the Houston Independent School District told trustees on Thursday to expect a severe reduction in state and federal funding over the next two fiscal years.

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines, which after its launch in 1971 built its entire business plan around Love Field, will issue $310 million of revenue bonds to expand operations at the historic Dallas airport.