Economy

WASHINGTON - Airports and toll roads face a more uncertain future than other transportation sectors, Fitch Ratings said in a special report due out today. The agency revised its outlook for both airports and toll roads to negative from stable, and suggested the sectors may be undergoing permanent transformation.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is expected to propose in his 2009 budget to be released next month that the county fund a study on the privatization of Mitchell International Airport.

ATLANTA -The Atlanta City Council on Monday made more progress towards bringing the historic BeltLine tax allocation district project to fruition by approving a $120 million bond deal for its development.

The Kansas City council last week decided to ask voters on the Nov. 4 general election ballot whether they support a sales tax increase to fund an $800 million starter light-rail system.

DALLAS - A convergence of economic and social trends is driving cities in the Southwest toward rail as an alternative to cars and planes, say transit experts who predict a new era in public-private partnership to finance the costly systems.

It's greenfields over brownfields as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission last week announced that it would evaluate bringing in a private company to finance, build, and operate 50-miles of new toll roads south of Pittsburgh.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last week released preliminary renderings for a proposed replacement for the Goethals Bridge, which connects New Jersey and Staten Island.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has waived its fees and rental payments at Stewart International Airport for six months in a bid to retain air carriers.

Subsidies to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from New York City and New York State have remained flat since 1990, according to a report released last week by the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Motorists and mass-transit riders could see higher bridge tolls and mass transit fares by mid-September if the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey approves the increases at its monthly board meeting on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - The Maryland Department of Transportation will bring $280 million of consolidated transportation bonds to market on Wednesday. The competitive sale is the second of the department's 2008 series. Proceeds from the revenue-backed bonds will go toward an amalgam of capital projects.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $40 billion sales tax measure moved closer to passage in the California Legislature late Wednesday.

They both receive a dedicated portion of Massachusetts' underperforming sales tax revenue, yet the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority anticipates selling roughly $300 million of new-money bonds in October while the Massachusetts School Building Authority will hold off on new borrowing until 2009.

A bill drafted to facilitate the creation of high-occupancy toll lanes on the State Route 91 freeway in Riverside County cleared the Assembly Monday on a 74-to-1 vote. The Senate has already approved the bill, but it will need to reconsider it because of technical amendments added in the Assembly.

CHICAGO - Credit quality is beginning to deteriorate across the not-for-profit health care sector as providers grapple with an array of financial pressures, said Standard & Poor's in a pair of reports on the sector released yesterday.

DALLAS - A $747 million bond proposal to rebuild Dallas' crowded Parkland Hospital will share the November ballot with candidates for state and federal office in what some expect to be a record turnout.

The New York State Department of Transportation has preliminarily selected a group led by Merrill Lynch & Co. to serve as financial adviser on the multibillion-dollar Tappan Zee Bridge corridor project, NYSDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Post said yesterday.

The $300 million of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds allocated for a rail car manufacturing plant in Colbert County, Ala., would be in jeopardy under a bill that has been introduced in the House that would effectively block any tax-exempt financing for the project.

WASHINGTON - Moody's Investors Service changed its outlook to negative for U.S. airports in a report issued today, one of two new rating agency reports on the sector's credit.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority advanced borrowing plans totaling about $700 million for a handful of schools, cultural institutions, hospitals, and a pioneering proton therapy center in West Chicago to treat cancer.