Southwest

DALLAS — A combination of falling tax revenue, increased demand for state services, and the lack of federal stimulus funds could result in Texas lawmakers having up to $18 billion less to appropriate for the next two-year budget cycle.

DALLAS — Texas voters approved more than $1.4 billion in local school bond proposals on Saturday, while rejecting bond requests totaling more than $634 million.

DALLAS — Less than two years after voters rejected a $395 million bond issue, Colorado’s affluent Douglas County School District will issue $79.6 million of general obligation refunding bonds while struggling to cut costs.

WASHINGTON — Last month, the Oklahoma fire marshal’s office cut staff again, dropping its headcount to 27 workers from 34 at full capacity four years ago, as another round of spending cuts was imposed.

DALLAS — The Kansas Senate on Wednesday approved a $13.6 billion general fund budget for fiscal 2011 that will require lawmakers to raise taxes by at least $350 million.

DALLAS — The Kansas Senate’s Ways and Means Committee has endorsed the largest tax hike in state history, a $434 million package of measures aimed at easing a revenue shortfall that keeps getting worse.

DALLAS — The North Texas Tollway Authority plans to test the market’s appetite for a $400 million issue of its lowest-rated debt this week.

DALLAS — On the heels of a Fitch Ratings downgrade, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System plans to issue more than $1 billion of revenue bonds this week for operations in three states.

DALLAS — Colorado will begin its next fiscal year July 1 with a $20 billion budget patched together with federal stimulus money and the elimination of tax breaks to cover a $1.3 billion shortfall.

DALLAS — The fast-growing Northside Independent School District in San Antonio plans to devote a majority of the proceeds from a requested $535 million general obligation bond issue to projects at existing facilities for the first time in almost two decades.