Texas

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.

DALLAS — Texas voters approved more than $1.4 billion in local school bond proposals on Saturday, while rejecting bond requests totaling more than $634 million.

DALLAS — The North Texas Tollway Authority plans to test the market’s appetite for a $400 million issue of its lowest-rated debt this week.

DALLAS — The fast-growing Northside Independent School District in San Antonio plans to devote a majority of the proceeds from a requested $535 million general obligation bond issue to projects at existing facilities for the first time in almost two decades.

DALLAS — As one of 35 states that tapped federal interest-free loans to cover unemployment benefits, Texas expects to issue about $2 billion of bonds to begin repaying them next year, officials said.

DALLAS — The Lower Colorado River Authority, a major public power wholesaler based in Austin, is preparing to issue $200 million of revenue bonds to refund commercial paper that financed expansion of the utility’s transmission system.

DALLAS — In an $84 million remarketing deal priced this week, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin sought to eliminate interest rate risk in favor of fixed-rate bonds, securities executives said.

DALLAS — Faced with the borrowing constraints that often hamper growth of charter schools, the Houston area’s Yes Prep Public Schools used a new type of bond financing that has never been done in Texas.

DALLAS — The capital program financed by $98.6 million of general obligation bonds being sought by the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District has been developed to help meet the South Texas district’s needs for the next decade.