Economy

BRADENTON, Fla. — Georgia's State Transportation Board Thursday adopted a financial management plan to pay down an estimated $1.2 billion deficit at the Georgia Department of Transportation in order to balance the fiscal 2008 budget.

Proponents backing a sales tax increase in Sierra County to benefit New Mexico’s Spaceport America received a financial boost from Gov. Bill Richardson’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Another fare increase could be on its way for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority as it grapples with falling revenue and increased costs that are pushing $2.7 billion of projects into the 2010-2015 capital plan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Broward County, Fla., is working on a plan to refund up to $110 million of auction-rate securities and replace the debt with variable-rate demand obligations with a new, triple-A rated bond insurance policy.

CHICAGO — In its second refunding since mid-April, the Wayne County Airport Authority plans to enter the market Wednesday with roughly $330 million in variable-rate demand bonds that will take out all the authority's auction-rate debt.

WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine is hoping state lawmakers will embrace his transportation funding plan, which they will consider during a special session that begins today.

DALLAS — A year after completing its move to the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital campus in Aurora, Colo., the University of Colorado Hospital Authority will issue $92.6 million of variable-rate revenue bonds for construction and refunding.

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles International Airport plans to sell $950 million of revenue bonds next month in its first major new-money issue in more than a decade.

The nation's governors are urging Congress to pass legislation that would offset the huge deficit projected for the highway trust fund in fiscal 2009.

CHICAGO — Standard & Poor's yesterday placed the A-plus underlying credit of Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Credit Watch with negative implications as the shuttered hospital struggles to recover from the devastating floods that have hit the Midwest.

DALLAS — Gilbert, Ariz., will begin an extensive, multi-year effort to widen streets throughout the Phoenix suburb with next week's competitive sale of $188 million of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — Bonds supported by a 4 cents-a-gallon gasoline tax will not be sufficient to complete Louisiana's $4.9 billion Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development program as gas tax revenues fail to keep up with inflated construction costs.

SAN FRANCISCO The federal receiver charged with bringing California's prison health care system up to constitutional muster turned up the heat on state decision makers this week.

CHICAGO — The combined needs of struggling municipalities, financially strapped airlines, and labor could spark a national wave of interest in airport privatization if Chicago pulls off its plan to lease Midway Airport as expected, a key legal adviser on the proposal predicts.

WASHINGTON — Traffic congestion across the United States increased nearly 2% in 2007 over 2006, according to a report released yesterday by INRIX, a private company that analyzes national traffic patterns.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Airport Authority plans to enter the market June 25 with a $350 million variable-rate revenue bond sale that will mark the agency's last financing to pay for a $1.06 billion new project at Indianapolis International Airport.

DALLAS — Tulsa, Okla., Mayor Kathy Taylor has proposed a 12-year, $2 billion program to improve city streets to a satisfactory condition, including a plan to widen five streets from two lanes to four.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Miami-Dade County tomorrow is set to price $271.6 million of transit system sales-tax revenue bonds, which is shaping up to be the largest scheduled competitive sale of the week on The Bond Buyer's calendar.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Mississippi Department of Transportation is seeking prospective concessionaires to enter into the state's first public-private partnership to build a new toll road estimated to cost as much as $500 million.

WASHINGTON — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined three other mayors of metropolitan cities at a Senate Banking Committee hearing yesterday to push for more federal funding for transportation infrastructure, warning that state and local governments can no longer shoulder the costs alone.