Northeast

With an eye on its credit ratings, the Delaware River Port Authority chose to keep in place a $1 toll hike Wednesday that was set to begin July 1 after weeks of debate on whether to delay the increase to 2012.

The Essex County, N.J., Improvement Authority Wednesday will sell $72.6 million of lease-revenue bonds that will help Newark balance its 2010 budget.

With two weeks left to use its remaining $90.2 million allocation of recovery zone facility bonds, New York City is projecting that $18.7 million of unused capacity will be left to help finance World Trade Center development.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to issue up to $750 million of taxable Build America Bonds next week to fund capital needs in 2011.

Pennsylvania on Wednesday will take bids on $650 million of general obligation debt, including $466 million of taxable Build America bonds.

New Jersey last week released its 2010 debt report, with school construction debt and Transportation Trust Fund Authority bonds increasing the state’s outstanding general obligation and appropriation debt by $1.25 billion to $32.84 billion.

Massachusetts Wednesday will sell its first-ever Commonwealth Transportation Fund bond offering — $576.2 million of taxable debt to repair decrepit bridges.

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson Wednesday proposed selling land underneath three parking garages to the Harrisburg Parking Authority to help fill a $4.3 million gap-error in her fiscal 2011 budget proposal.

Moody's Investors Service Wednesday downgraded Newark to A3 from A2, affecting $500 million of outstanding general obligation debt.

Delaware River Port Authority board members continue to push for a delay of toll and fare increases as its financial advisers warn of potential credit-rating downgrades and fiscal pressures the bistate agency may face if it postpones future revenue enhancements.