Texas

DALLAS — The Houston Community College System is maximizing taxpayer dollars with today’s $74.6 million negotiated sale that includes $26.7 million of senior-lien student revenue bonds and $47.9 million of tax maintenance notes.

DALLAS — With its rocky financial situation appearing to stabilize, the Dallas Independent School District leads a parade of Texas school bond issuers to market this week with a $166 million refunding.

DALLAS — Texas notched its third straight monthly gain in sales tax revenue in June, but Comptroller Susan Combs says she is not ready to declare an end to hard times.

DALLAS — Texas is considering a $1 billion project to replace all steel residential gas pipes with plastic ones after a series of explosions that resulted in four fatalities.

DALLAS — The Texas Transportation Commission is preparing a record $1.5 billion bond issue under the voter-approved program known as Proposition 14 that dedicates fuel taxes and vehicle fees toward highway construction.

DALLAS — After years of discussion and disagreements about expanding Fort Worth’s celebrated Kimbell Art Museum, a finance team is preparing a $62 million bond package to build an adjacent gallery.

DALLAS — Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport expects its annual debt service cost to double over the next decade as it embarks on a $2 billion renovation of its original four terminals built in 1974.

DALLAS — The Comanche County Hospital District has lost its investment-grade rating from Standard & Poor’s as the rural health care facility in West Texas copes with a declining population and weak economy.

DALLAS — Williamson County, Tex., the ninth fastest growing county in the U.S., has gained a one-notch upgrade to AAA from Standard & Poor’s, analysts said.

DALLAS — Voters in Texas' capital city could decide in November on an $84.8 million general obligation bond package for transportation projects if the Austin City Council adopts the program and schedule proposed by city manager Marc Ott.

DALLAS — The University of Texas System Board of Regents plans to price $520 million of Build America Bonds today, its largest single issue of the taxable debt and second-largest deal overall in at least a decade.

DALLAS — A plan to convert the vacant Houston Astrodome into a multipurpose center and hotel could require as much as $900 million of bond debt, according to Harris County officials.

DALLAS — With a growing budget crisis on the horizon, Texas is seeking to lower its finance costs with a $342 million tax-exempt refunding deal next week.

DALLAS — Douglas Benton, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service in Dallas, is leaving the agency to join Bank of Texas as an analyst in the wealth management division.

DALLAS — Houston and Harris County will be pumping about $1 billion of short- and long-term debt into the market this month as they seek to position themselves for leaner economic times.

DALLAS — Corpus Christi International Airport is in danger of losing its investment-grade rating amid declining enplanements, Standard & Poor’s warned yesterday.

The Internal Revenue Service closed an audit of $61.3 million of revenue bonds issued in 2005 by the Coastal Bend Health Facilities Development Corp. of Corpus Christi, Tex., and has determined the debt can remain tax-exempt.

DALLAS — The Internal Revenue Service is withholding up to $1.2 million of direct-payment subsidies for Build America Bonds issued by Austin last year, said Treasurer Art Alfaro.

DALLAS — The Texas Education Agency will distribute more than $1 billion of federally subsidized qualified school construction bonds to local districts under an allocation procedure issued Monday.

DALLAS — A combination of falling tax revenue, increased demand for state services, and the lack of federal stimulus funds could result in Texas lawmakers having up to $18 billion less to appropriate for the next two-year budget cycle.