Industries

New Jersey Transit Wednesday approved a $1.79 billion operating budget and a $1.35 billion capital plan for fiscal 2011, which began July 1.

West Virginia estimated it saved about $4 million on a $37.7 million general obligation road refinancing deal last week after Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the state’s GO rating to Aa1 from Aa2.

WASHINGTON — Congress returns to work this week still lacking a clear game plan for extending bond programs and other federal assistance for state and local governments, despite pleas for the extensions from governors meeting in Boston through the weekend.

Travis County Healthcare District, which operates as Central Health, plans to seek authorization from Travis County commissioners for $18 million of 20-year certificates of obligation to finance a new health clinic.

A bond package designed to ease transportation woes in Austin grew by $5 million to $90 million in a revised proposal released last week. The City Council is expected to vote later this month to put the general obligation bond proposal on the November general election ballot.

BOSTON – U.S. governors this weekend called for greater fiscal discipline in their states to calm bond market fears over their debts, but they offered little consensus on efforts to extend certain federal government stimulus programs, specifically Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Maryland Transportation Authority this week expects to price $299 million of revenue bonds for construction projects, the bulk of which will finance continuing construction of the InterCounty Connector.

CHICAGO — The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission will enter the market later this month with a nearly $150 million mostly new-money sale of senior-lien revenue bonds as it seeks to take advantage of the federal alternative minimum tax holiday.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation Thursday announced $300 million in competitive grants for cities and local agencies to pay for 53 transit proposals including bus, streetcar and trolley projects.

Holders of first-tier debt issued for the Las Vegas Monorail have nothing to show for their most recent scheduled interest payment.

Investors and the state of South Carolina are haggling over who will get a bigger share of revenue from a bankrupt bond-funded toll road.

DALLAS — The Port of Seattle will upgrade equipment at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and refinance several series of outstanding debt with proceeds from next week’s negotiated sale of $394.6 million of intermediate-line revenue bonds.

A public-private partnership of the Greater Birmingham Regional Planning Commission, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and Norfolk-Southern railroad will study the feasibility of a high-speed rail connection between Birmingham and Atlanta.

DALLAS — The Texas Transportation Commission is preparing a record $1.5 billion bond issue under the voter-approved program known as Proposition 14 that dedicates fuel taxes and vehicle fees toward highway construction.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch last week signed a $3.62 billion 10-year transportation plan into law.

CHICAGO — The Minnesota Nurses Association and 14 hospitals in the Twin Cities area reached an agreement late last week on a new contract, averting a threatened strike by 12,000 nurses that was set to start this week.

Bexar County commissioners will be asked to move up the sale of the fourth and final tranche of debt to finance Bexar County Hospital District’s ongoing expansion project of its facilities in San Antonio.

Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson joined other governors last week in support of a proposal to continue a $25 billion program of emergency federal aid to state Medicaid programs.

WASHINGTON — Airports would receive steady funding until August, and the federal government would reclaim $17.4 million of unused transit funding this fiscal year, if two separate bills approved this week by the Senate and a House committee become law.

WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s outlook was revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday, ahead of a $350 million revenue bond transaction it has scheduled for later this month.