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Government

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone is proposing a $2.97 billion 2016 budget that stays with New York State’s 2% property tax cap.

Hillview, Ky., filed for bankruptcy last month under the weight of a $15 million court judgment; objections to the city’s petition are due by Oct. 1.

After getting hit with multi-notch downgrades on its water and sewer bonds, the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel is considering raising its utility rates.

Standard & Poor's stripped Lawrence, Wis. of its investment grade rating after learning of the risky terms in the municipality’s direct placement debt contracts.

Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate declined to 11.6% in August from 11.9% in July.

While the issue price rules proposed by the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service in June are a “significant improvement” over those proposed in 2013, the alternative method for determining issue price under the recent proposal is currently “not workable,” the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wrote.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds finished sharply higher on Friday, according to traders, with yields on some maturities weakening by as much as nine basis points

Municipal bond volume is forecast to hold steady in the coming week after the Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep the benchmark interest rate near zero.

The Obama administration is emphasizing the urgency of giving Puerto Rico the right to use a bankruptcy process for its debts.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has released the final version of its set of best practices for state government general obligation bond disclosure, the first part of an ongoing update to a set of recommended best practices from 2001.

Ambac Assurance Corp., in a bankruptcy court filing, says San Bernardino's plan of adjustment is more aspirational than real.

Brazos County wants a ruling from the state on property tax exemption of a bond-financed P3 dormitory at Texas A&M.

Wayne County, Mich.’s disclosure that the IRS is auditing $200 million of bonds is a credit negative, because the cash-strapped county could have a hard time covering the costs of the federal interest subsidy if is lost, Moody’s Investors Service said Friday.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its long-term rating and underlying rating to AA from AA-minus on the Yuma Municipal Property Corp., Ariz.'s series 2010 senior-lien excise tax revenue bonds, issued for the city of Yuma.

New Jersey’s Stockton University has reached an agreement to sell the former Showboat Casino Hotel in Atlantic City for $22 million to Philadelphia-based developer Tower Investments.

The North Carolina House passed the state budget for the 2016-2017 biennium just after midnight on Sept. 18; Gov. Pat McCrory later signed it into law.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust is soliciting help from the private sector as it takes the first steps toward a public-private partnership to upgrade the city and park district’s public lighting systems.

Based on GASB 25 data, 2014 was the best year for state pensions since the recession, Loop Capital Markets said in its public pension funding review.