Midwest

A Michigan House committee will resume hearings on a plan to limit retirement healthcare benefits for municipal workers in the New Year.

Iowa’ s Xenia Rural Water District brought its long financial struggles to a happy ending as it formally shed remaining bonds from its troubled 2006 issue, ending a saga that began with an ambitious expansion that led to default and concerns over the district’s solvency.

A proposed continuing resolution that would fund federal programs and services through April 28, 2017, and a long-awaited bipartisan water bill would provide about $170 million For Flint, Mich., and other water infrastructure health initiatives.

Michigan needs to spend an extra $4 billion annually to create 21st century transportation, water, wastewater, and communications infrastructure systems, according to a commission formed by Gov. Rick Snyder.

The majority of school districts seeking to override Wisconsin-imposed property tax caps on operating revenue won, Moody’s Investors Service said.

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. LLC’s successful receipt of bondholder waivers and completion of a tender exchange for $150 million of the original nearly $1.2 billion deal eases pressures on the struggling project without eliminating them.

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy named former Chicago chief financial officer Lois Scott as the inaugural chair of the advisory board that oversees its expanding Center for Municipal Finance.

Minnesota expects to close out its fiscal biennium June 30 with a $678 million balance, leaving the state $1.4 billion in surplus revenue available for the next two-year budget.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly’s Democratic leadership headed toward the New Year with a budget impasse still hanging over the state, after the annual veto session ended amid deepening political rancor.

Energy-producing states affected by two years of deterioration in natural resource prices can expect continued global headwinds to pressure revenues, according to Fitch Ratings.