Virginia

Volume in the Southeast was up 46% in 2024, led by Florida, where municipal bond sales more than doubled to $27.49 billion.

Both houses of the Virginia state government have advanced budget bills that include rebates to taxpayers from surpluses fattened by federal funding and robust tax collections, a trend that concerns policy experts.

The projects funded by the deal align with the city of Alexandria's goal to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030.

Nashville, Tennessee, voters approved a $2 billion bond measure, while Lancaster County, South Carolina, and Cary, North Carolina, opposed the bond referendums.

Large measures to authorize or support bonds are on the menu in several of the region's largest cities and suburbs.

As federal funding dries up, cites are searching for new funding sources.

Moody's has raised the senior bonds to Aa1 from Aa2 and assigned a stable outlook to them.

North Carolina is the latest state to eye using a P3 to build tolled express lanes amid insufficient state funding.

The region's municipal bond volume grew by 42.4%, outpacing the nationwide 32% increase in a first-half marked by gas prepay deals and Brightline's big sale.

In the first half of 2024, winding-down federal aid, a resurgence of Build America Bond refundings and election uncertainty have contributed to the surge in issuance, said James Welch, a portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management.