Economy

MIAMI — Despite some setbacks in privatizing major U.S. airports, including the economic downturn and contraction among airlines, prospects remain good for future public-private partnerships, industry experts and airline officials said here Tuesday.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis would float $86 million of tax-increment financing bonds to finance construction of a new corporate campus for Eli Lilly and Co.— the pharmaceutical giant that is the city’s top private-sector employer — under a plan Mayor Greg Ballard will submit to the City-County Council next week.

MIAMI — Two senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee, including the panel’s outgoing ranking Republican, are calling for a gradual increase of the gasoline tax by 25 cents over three years.

Retiring Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle Monday said the fate of the $810 million, federally funded high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee is now in the hands of Governor-elect Scott Walker.

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop last week said lame-duck lawmakers will not act on a controversial plan to build a $1 billion, publicly owned bridge over the Detroit River.

Public bus service in Nassau County, N.Y., could be privatized after talks on Monday between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the county executive produced no resolution in a funding dispute.

The Bond Buyer’s editors Tuesday announced the finalists for the newspaper’s ninth annual Deal of the Year Awards.

New Jersey Transit and Amtrak are in preliminary discussions to improve passenger rail service between New Jersey and Manhattan following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s termination of a $9.4 billion commuter-rail tunnel that was the nation’s largest public transportation project.

Requiring local government employees and retirees in New York to pay a share of health insurance premiums could save more than $1 billion annually, according to a think tank report released Monday.

MIAMI — With the potential expiration of popular Build America Bonds at the end of the year, issuers looking to finance transportation projects should not rule out using variable-rate debt in their portfolios or wrapping bonds with insurance, experts said here Monday.

MIAMI — The environment of ­austerity in the federal and state capitols will have a jarring effect on funding for transportation projects, but could present an opportunity for tolling, increased public-private partnerships, or an infrastructure bank, market participants said Monday at The Bond Buyer’s 11th Annual Transportation Finance Public-Private Partnership conference.

Moody's Investors Service last week boosted its outlook to stable from negative on the Cleveland Clinic Health System in part because the prestigious system has scaled back some of its ambitious capital program.

Atlanta may bring its next airport bond issue to market sooner than anticipated because of widespread investor interest in last week's successful sale of $588 million for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, officials said.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded to junk $792 million of bonds issued in 1997 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Lawmakers will go back to the drawing board for a multi-year transportation bill when Republicans take over leadership of the House in January, but market participants think such a bill may have a chance of squeezing through a divided Congress next year.

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California will sell $760 million of mostly taxable Build America Bonds next week to help finance upgrades to three medical centers.

The Minneapolis City Council last week approved up to $16.5 million of recovery zone facility bonds toward the American Academy of Neurology’s plans to build a new global headquarters, according to a news release from the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development Department.

The Cook County Health and Hospital System plans to issue up to $200 million of debt over the next five years to finance a new capital plan.

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines, which after its launch in 1971 built its entire business plan around Love Field, will issue $310 million of revenue bonds to expand operations at the historic Dallas airport.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two years after voters north of San Francisco approved a sales tax to finance a new commuter rail line, the start of construction is in sight and the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District prepares for its first bond issue.