Southwest

DALLAS — Arkansas’ $4.6 billion fiscal 2012 budget unveiled by the Joint Budget Committee on Monday increases appropriations for public education and penitentiaries, but keeps other state spending at or below fiscal 2011 levels.

DALLAS — Voters in Texas face a light load of school bond requests at the polls on May 14 as districts across the state focus on belt-tightening instead of capital projects.

DALLAS — In an unusually lean market for tax-exempt debt, the San Antonio Independent School District will provide about $100 million of refunding bonds in a deal that ranks as one of the largest from Texas this year.

Travis County may establish a tax increment financing district to build roads and other public infrastructure serving the 3.4-mile Formula One Grand Prix racetrack being built outside Austin.

Oklahoma agencies may see their budgets cut next year by 7% or more rather than the less-severe cuts sought earlier as lawmakers and Gov. Mary Fallin continue to negotiate the fiscal 2012 budget.

The Arkansas Senate approved a ­measure last week that would allow the governor to put a 5-cent per gallon ­increase in state gasoline taxes on a statewide ­ballot.

The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board will hear April 15 a request from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for a $132.3 million revenue bond package to finance projects at the main campus.

Trustees of the Central Arkansas Library System last week approved a plan to set an election on a proposed $32 million revenue bond issue.

DALLAS — The North Central Texas Council of Governments is considering funding for a proposed $1.4 billion commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to the north Dallas suburb of Plano.

DALLAS — The $164.5 billion state budget adopted last week by a Texas House committee could cost the state more than 335,000 jobs over the next two years, according to an economic impact report from the Legislative Budget Board.