Southwest

El Mirage’s $8.5 million bond request was approved by a three-vote margin on Nov. 8 after early returns showed the measure failing by 19 votes.

The Maricopa County supervisors voted last week to again ask the Arizona Legislature to halt its practice of levying a mandated contribution on counties to help balance the state budget.

DALLAS - Plans to hold a Formula 1 race near Austin are in doubt after Texas Comptroller Susan Combs announced plans to withhold $25 million in taxpayer subsidies for construction of the track.

DALLAS - The North Texas Tollway Authority achieved total savings of $10.1 million in a $268.6 million refunding deal that sold out in less than three hours, officials said.

DALLAS - The decision of San Antonio-area voters to dissolve the 66-year-old Bexar Metropolitan Water District is not expected to lower ratings of the utility's $216 million of outstanding revenue bonds, according to Standard & Poor's.

DALLAS - The Spring Branch Independent School District in Texas will continue its 10-year capital improvement program with proceeds from Tuesday's competitive sale of $75 million of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS - With high ratings and low water supplies, drought-stricken Austin expects a strong response from the muni market Tuesday when it prices $235.4 million of bonds to finance a new water treatment plant.

Texas Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, told a 10-member committee established to lay the groundwork for building a medical school in Austin that it is too early to know how much the proposal will cost.

Texas sales tax revenues of $1.87 billion in October were up almost 16% from October 2010 collections, Comptroller Susan Combs said last week.

The Oklahoma County Independent School District 12 extended its streak of successful bond elections to 54 with last week’s approval of a $35.5 million request.