General obligation bonds

The Texas city, which has been hit with rating downgrades due to a looming water supply crisis, plans to sell up to $728 million of bonds.

The biggest-ever bond referendum in Texas was passed Saturday for Dallas schools, while voters in only one city chose to leave Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

Debt requests are escalating as the Lone Star State accommodates a growing population and addresses aging infrastructure.

The rating agency's previous review of the Texas city resulted in downgrades in December over increased credit risk due to water supply woes.

Capital needs and state actions were on the minds of two top local government officials at The Bond Buyer's Public Finance Conference in Austin.

The review, which included mostly Texas and Colorado bond issuers, comes as the amount of voter-approved debt authorized for districts is exploding.

Iowa lawmakers have to merge competing visions for property tax reform after multiple bills passed out of committee in the state House and Senate this month.

A Fitch rating analyst pointed to the school system's elevated long-term liability burden that could be exacerbated by future voter-approved bonds.

Illinois returns to market with about $1.4 billion of GO bonds on Tuesday, with proceeds funding accelerated pension benefit payments and capital projects.

Chicago postponed the sale of about $292 million of tax-exempt bonds from an $800 million general obligation bond deal.

Chicago returns to market March 10 with $800.29 million of general obligation bonds, following bond rating downgrades from Fitch Ratings and KBRA.

The commission also approved developing a plan to refund $286 million of bonds.

The competitive bond sale comes after the triple-A-rated city received a negative outlook from S&P over the use of reserves to ease budget pressures.

Chicago general obligation bond prices have dropped sharply since the start of the year, according to the Center for Municipal Finance's muni indices.

This would be the state's first bond issuance since 2023.

A plan before county commissioners to put a 0.625% permanent sales tax on the April ballot to complete a bond-financed jail project failed to advance.

Pending city council approval, the February competitive bond sale would be the first issuance from $950 million of debt authorized by voters on Nov. 4.

The rating agency lifted the state's general obligation and other ratings by a notch, citing well-established and prudent governance practices.

The second-largest public school system in Texas could ask voters to approve as much as $6.24 billion of bond authorization as soon as in May.

Bond sales by Texas issuers rose 21% to $82.52 billion, putting the state in second place behind California and well ahead of third-place New York.