Economy

WASHINGTON - State and local governments must be given federal assistance through tax code revisions, stimulus legislation, and financial aid to help with operational costs, governors from New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin told the House Appropriations Committee at a hearing here yesterday.

Senators late yesterday were trying to determine if they had enough votes to approve automaker bailout legislation containing provisions that could prevent 31 transit agencies from having to make $2 billion to $4 billion in termination payments on leaseback deals that technically defaulted after their guarantors' ratings were downgraded.

CHICAGO - Indiana will collect nearly $1 billion less revenue than originally expected during its upcoming 2009-2011 biennium, fiscal analysts warned yesterday.

WASHINGTON - State revolving funds that rely on investment returns to subsidize loans should be worried about unexpected losses in liquidity and declining future returns, Moody's Investors Service analysts said in a report yesterday.

New Jersey's Local Finance Board yesterday authorized a portion of Bayonne's mixed-use Peninsula Project New York Harbor for tax increment financing, the first step in gaining state approval for such borrowing.

DALLAS - After years of sweating transportation dollars, state and local governments in Texas are quickly lining up projects that might be eligible for a federal stimulus package proposed by President-elect Barack Obama.

Fitch Ratings last week revised its outlook to negative from stable on debt issued by Akron-based Summa Health System as it prepares to take on more debt to finance an expansion.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority yesterday approved $500 million of long- and short-term borrowing to help it address auction-rate debt.

The Michigan Senate last week approved a package of bills paving the way for a $103 million light-rail transit line on one of Detroit’s main thoroughfares.

Fitch Ratings last week upgraded to AA-minus from A-plus Saint Francis Medical Center’s $53.9 million of debt issued through the Cape Girardeau Industrial Development Authority.

WASHINGTON - Draft legislation to bail out automakers includes a provision that would require the federal government to guarantee leaseback deals that transit agencies entered into with private investors and that were approved by the Federal Transit Administration before 2006.

The Second District Appellate Court in Elgin last week heard arguments by the Chicago suburb of Bensenville seeking a halt to the demolition of 500 properties to make room for a new runway at O’Hare International Airport. The project is part of a $7.5 billion runway expansion that is being partially financed with bonds.

DALLAS - Lafayette Parish, La., would replace much of its deteriorating rural road network with proceeds from a proposed $26 million general obligation bond sale.

While President-Elect Barack Obama has directed his economic recovery team to develop a plan to invest in infrastructure nationwide, create millions of jobs, modernize schools, and make buildings more energy-efficient, both the details of the plan and the extent to which municipal bonds may play a role are unclear.

WASHINGTON - The problems facing transportation infrastructure financing are so expansive that all options must be considered, including public-private partnerships and a possible alternative to the federal gas tax to fund the highway trust fund, JPMorgan's Jane Garvey said Sunday at a conference here.

DALLAS - A year after tripling its debt load, the North Texas Tollway Authority is trimming 2009 revenue projections by $25 million, or 7%, due to worsening economic conditions, the authority said.

The Joint Committee on Transportation last week began a series of four public hearings regarding the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, along with transportation financing issues throughout the state.

WASHINGTON - After more than three months of watching the municipal bond market seize up and then continue to stumble, the Maryland Transportation Authority is on the calendar to come back to market with $425 million of grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds in a negotiated deal led by Merrill Lynch & Co. Wednesday and Thursday.

A plan to extend the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to Silicon Valley scored a come-from-behind victory this week, as the Santa Clara County registrar of voters certified that an eighth-cent sales tax to operate the new line was approved by voters last month.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority could issue as much as $30 billion of bonds over five years under a new credit backed by a payroll tax, according to a proposal released yesterday by a state commission.