Southwest

DALLAS — The Arizona budget bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday calls for $1.3 billion in cuts to avoid borrowing and sharply reduces funding for education.

DALLAS — Glendale, Ariz.’s plan to sell $100 million of revenue bonds to finance the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team to Chicago investor Matthew Hulsizer appeared to be on hold after the Goldwater Institute confirmed plans to challenge the deal in court.

DALLAS — Texas will draw up to $3.2 billion from its rainy-day fund to close a revenue shortfall in fiscal 2011 under an accord approved Tuesday by Gov. Rick Perry.

DALLAS — The Arkansas House on Friday passed a bill calling for a statewide vote on a diesel-fuel tax hike to fund $1.1 billion of bonds for highway efforts.

DALLAS — As the hub of the largest cotton-growing region in the world, Lubbock, Texas, depends on groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir covering parts of eight states in the Great Plains.

Texas will distribute $433.1 million of sales tax collections to local governments this month, an increase of 7.1% from March 2010. Local sales tax allocation for the first three months of the calendar year are up 7.9% from 2010.

Trustees of the North East Independent School District decided last week to postpone an election set for May 14 for a proposed $399.4 million general obligation bond package due to uncertainties over state aid to public education over the next two years.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback ordered $56.5 million of spending cuts on Friday to balance the current budget after lawmakers failed to meet his deadline for resolving the revenue shortfall in fiscal 2011.

Sales tax revenues in Tempe have climbed 13.2% since the beginning of fiscal 2011, with retail sales tax collections up 14.4%.

The Internal Revenue Service and a Little Rock issuer are fighting over whether the IRS can declare bonds taxable after previously signing a closing agreement to settle a tax dispute over them.