News and Information from Bond Buyer

The National League of Cities found mostly good news for city budgets.

San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu highlighted challenges the city faces, and how city leaders plan to solve them.

The nearly two-year delay in setting up the per-mile charging fee pilot program means Congress will not be able to consider the feasibility of the fees as it crafts the next surface transportation law.

The Board of Education enters the market with two speculative grade ratings and one investment grade after affirmations from the agencies across the board.

The top bond counsel firms combined for a total of $265.112 billion in 5,327 transactions during the first three quarters of 2023, down from the $291.768 billion in 6,400 deals over the same period in 2022.

In September, New Jersey's combined revenue streams were down 5.1% year-over-year, marking a continued slide across the first quarter of fiscal year 2024.

An elevated new-issue market is on the horizon with $14.87 billion, per The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply.

New York-based Odeon Capital failed to report approximately 225 municipal securities transactions to RTRS over a two and a half year period.

Fredericks will tap her extensive muni market network as SOLVE extends its reach into the muni business.

Record-breaking hot temperatures in the Southwest this summer likely had economic consequences and could focus the municipal bond market on heat-related credit risks and infrastructure needs.

The new-issue muni calendar is estimated at $8.522 billion next week with $6.075 billion of negotiated deals on tap and $2.446 billion on the competitive calendar, according to Ipreo and The Bond Buyer.

The Gulf of Maine offers "significant opportunities" for offshore wind energy development, federal authorities announced. That's good news for state officials hoping to tap the technology's potential to meet green energy goals.

"Nothing is off the table in terms of looking at who we can potentially charge," said Brian Fagel, assistant director of the SEC's Public Finance Abuse Unit.  

"Transmission is often a pressing need. Routing power around more efficiently with fewer losses helps to maintain the integrity of the system," said John Hallacy.

"A lot of these priority items are bottlenecking, said Brian Egan, director of government affairs at the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Plans for a garbage-to-jet fuels facility in Gary, Indiana, are on hold after bonds for the same operator's plant in Nevada went into default.

LSEG Lipper data Thursday showed $297 million of outflows from municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday after $780.1 million of outflows the week prior.

Ahead of issuance, the city's $40.2 million of general obligation bonds received top marks from Fitch and S&P.

The state's strong reserves contributed to brighter rating outlooks from Moody's Investors Service and, earlier this year, S&P Global Ratings.

"It's not hard," said Sanchez, the SEC's director of the Office of Municipal Securities.