Industries

CHICAGO - Former JPMorgan tax-exempt capital markets banking manager Mark T. Melio spent most of the last two decades building the nonprofit health care practices of JPMorgan and Goldman, Sachs & Co. - experience that's now a principal selling point of his new, national advisory firm focused on the struggling sector.

University Medical Center in Tucson opened a new emergency room last week, part of the hospital’s $200 million capital improvement program financed with proceeds from $137 million of revenue bonds sold in 2005 and another $55 million of bonds sold in March of this year.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is conducting audits of $38.2 million of revenue bonds issued by Howard County, Md., for a continuing-care retirement community and $49.3 million of revenue bonds issued by the Tompkins County, N.Y., Industrial Development Agency for Ithaca College.

In the first deal backed by a new payroll tax, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to go into the short-term market with up to $600 million of revenue anticipation notes, officials said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation Committee Monday unveiled a 775-page, multi-year transportation infrastructure bill that is to be voted on Wednesday by its transit and highways subcommittee.

Massachusetts lawmakers late yesterday voted to abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority by the end of 2009 and create a new agency with bonding authority that would oversee most transportation programs in the state and take on MassPike’s $2.2 billion of outstanding debt.

WASHINGTON — States and other sponsors of high-speed rail projects must submit pre-applications for a share of the more than $8 billion of available funding no later than July 10, the Federal Railroad Administration said this week in interim guidance that outlines the criteria for such projects.

The California Alternative Energy and Advance Transportation Financing Authority has announced the closure of a $20 million clean renewable energy bond deal on behalf of the California Department of Transportation.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles Harbor Department plans to sell $200 million of new-money bonds and up to $550 million of refunding debt next week.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee leaders yesterday released a voluminous blueprint for a soon-to-be-introduced bill that would create a national infrastructure bank to help states, localities and private parties finance transportation projects.

Washington’s state conduit issuer for hospitals has issued a waiver that would allow Central Washington Hospital to issue bonds without attaining a minimum single-A credit rating, the Wenatchee World newspaper reported this week.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday gave the go-ahead for a revenue bond issue of up to $250 million for the county’s John Wayne Airport.

WASHINGTON — The $450 billion transportation bill that is to be introduced soon by the House Transportation Committee chairman will provide $1 billion of federal funds for designated metropolitan planning organizations to issue bonds to finance transportation projects.

Hospitals operating in the state provided more than $1.8 billion in community-related benefits in 2007, up by $200 million a year earlier, according to a report released last week by the Missouri Hospital Association.

CHICAGO - St. Louis enters the market next week with up to $230 million of Lambert St. Louis International Airport revenue bonds to raise $126 million for projects and to refund bonds through a tender option designed to take advantage of the relief provided by the federal stimulus from the alternative minimum tax.

House Transportation Committee chairman James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., is expected to unveil a white paper tomorrow outlining the upcoming multi-year highway bill, but it probably will not contain details about the funding levels, revenue sources, or tax provisions necessary to pay for transportation programs, sources said yesterday.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed the Chicago Transit Authority’s $2 billion of sales and transfer tax receipts bonds and lease revenue bonds on negative watch, an action that stems from Moody’s downgrade earlier this month of the CTA’s parent agency.

DALLAS - The North Texas Tollway Authority is all but certain to raise tolls to preserve its debt-service coverage after revenues for 2009 fell by nearly 11%, officials indicated yesterday.

Standard & Poor’s this week knocked the Detroit Local Development Finance Authority’s tax increment financing bonds Series 1997B and C and 1998A further into junk bond territory due to “significant uncertainty” over the future of a Chrysler plant that makes up most of the taxable value of the district.

SAN FRANCISCO - Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. has announced the formation of a transportation finance group.