Economy

WASHINGTON — Two top experts and staff officials at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials plan to retire on Feb. 1 next year.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is urging lawmakers to include in a final highway bill temporary relief from the alternative minimum tax for private-activity bonds and provisions that keep TIFIA loans from being subordinated to other debt in municipal bankruptcies.

The estimated cost of the East Side Access for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has risen by another $1 billion and the completion date pushed back three years — at least.

Standard & Poor’s raised its rating on the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s airport parking revenue bonds to A from A-minus. The outlook is stable.

The triple-A bond ratings Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s assigned to the Massachusetts’ accelerated bridge program’s recent $419 million bond sale saved an estimated $23.5 million in overall borrowing costs, according to state officials.

CHICAGO — Nearly half of nonprofit hospitals expect capital spending to rise over the next five years, driven primarily by a need to invest in information technology, according to a new survey from Fitch Ratings.

In American ports, the expansion of the Panama Canal is the elephant in the room. East Coast and southern U.S. ports see the Panamanian expansion, allowing it to handle larger ships by the middle of the decade, as their chance to woo business away from the Port of Los Angeles.

The Nevada Treasurer’s Office completed a $70 million highway revenue refunding bond sale that will result in savings of about $6 million in its existing debt service payments, deputy chief debt manager Lori Chatwood said in a news release.

DALLAS — An Austin bond committee that has recommended $575 million for the November ballot is providing an alternative that will leave room for an urban rail project long championed by re-elected Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

A report requested by lawmakers on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority supports its financial projections for the Metrorail extension to Dulles Airport, but raises concerns about MWAA's transparency, conflicts of interest and contracting practices.

Fitch Ratings last week dropped the Citrus County Hospital Board, Fla.’s bonds, issued on behalf of Citrus Memorial Health Foundation Inc., to BB-minus from BB-plus. The downgrade affects $39.4 million of outstanding debt.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Georgia has restarted the Northwest Corridor congestion-reliever project in the Atlanta metropolitan region using a traditional approach to its construction and funding, as opposed to a public-private partnership.

DALLAS — Top Louisiana officials said Monday that higher education and public health would be devastated by fiscal 2013 spending cuts mandated by a budget passed late last week by the House.

CHICAGO – Janesville, Wis.-based Mercy Alliance Inc. will issue $172 million of new-money and refunding bonds Wednesday in a deal that will shed floating-rate risk in the hospital's debt portfolio.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder last Thursday met with top Canadian officials to talk about a proposed $4 billion, publicly funded trade bridge spanning the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, according to local reports.

Chicago announced an agreement Monday with Aeroterm LLC to begin construction on a new, $200 million cargo center at O’Hare International Airport.

State transportation officials, engineers, construction firms and transportation advocacy groups are urging lawmakers working on a final highway bill to support the use of new tax-credit bonds to finance transportation projects.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to soon sign legislation shifting more of the funding burden for retiree health care to recipients, a move projected to save more than $250 million annually and shave billions off the state’s other post-employment benefits unfunded liability.

DALLAS — When financial markets were collapsing in 2008, the North Texas Tollway Authority faced the challenge of raising $3.2 billion to pay for its most ambitious project, the State Highway 121 toll road connecting the far northern Dallas suburbs to the NTTA's existing system.

A recent poll found a slim majority of Arkansas voters oppose a plan to raise the sales tax rate to finance a $1.8 billion highway construction program.