Industries

CHICAGO - Chicago-area not-for-profit hospitals enjoy an estimated $498 million in tax-exemption benefits annually while collectively providing just $176 million in charity care, according to a new report from a Chicago-based fiscal research organization.

CHICAGO - A nonprofit hospital's debt structure - particularly its variable-rate debt exposure and associated liquidity risks - is one of several credit factors that Moody's Investors Service will pay special attention to in 2009, the rating agency said in a report released yesterday.

Moody's Investors Service's rating action on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's revenue bonds on Friday didn't appear to have an impact yesterday on secondary trading of the cash-strapped New York agency's bonds.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez is objecting to the Florida Department of Transportation's decision to reject further negotiations with the concessionaire originally selected to build the $1.2 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project.

House members last week approved their version of a transportation reform bill, one that would terminate the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and allow the state to issue special obligation bonds to help finance future infrastructure improvements throughout the state. The bill received initial approval in the lower chamber in a 147 to 7 vote.

The Georgia General Assembly Friday ended its 2009 regular session without agreement on new funding for transportation projects as well as measures that would have helped the state's largest transit agency with its budget problems.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority the week of April 20 will sell $650 million of long-term revenue debt, including $250 million of taxable Build America Bonds, the first new-money sale for the authority since 2005 and the largest sale to date of the new class of securities.

DALLAS - With Texas facing the first drop in fuel-tax revenues in nearly two decades, state Sen. John Carona yesterday called for passage of his bill that would allow counties in metro areas to seek local tax increases.

WASHINGTON - In an effort to boost disclosures for non-pension, health care, and other post-employment benefits, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts is urging issuers to release as much supplemental information in annual financial statements and bond offering documents as necessary "to effectively explain and communicate" their specific OPEB situation and funding approach.

Starved for new capital funding, the Regional Transportation Authority last week praised the Illinois General Assembly's passage and Gov. Pat Quinn's signing of a $9 billion capital program that provides $900 million for public transit.

Standard & Poor's took negative credit actions on a pair of North Dakota hospitals last week.

DALLAS - As airlines struggled with soaring fuel prices last year, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport capitalized on the energy boom, earning $28 million in royalties on gas production on its 18,092-acre property.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to refinance $167 million of auction-rate securities Wednesday, as it works to clear its variable-rate debt portfolio of more than a half-billion dollars of poorly performing assets.

Investors who own billions of dollars of debt issued by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are waiting to see how they would fare if the agencies are consolidated or merged in order to reduce costs.

New York lawmakers could be called to a special session next week to consider legislation to bail out the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Gov. David Paterson said last week.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The $1.2 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project will undergo another procurement process, Florida’s Department of Transportation chief said late Wednesday.

Death and disease know no recession. Hospitals do.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $149.7 million of revenue bonds issued in 2005 by the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority.

WASHINGTON - A Chicago-area real estate company has proposed an unsolicited 60-year concession to operate the Port of Virginia that would give the state an up-front payment of $500 million and $8.9 billion over the life of the deal.

DALLAS - Kansas lawmakers on Tuesday approved a $13 billion state budget for fiscal 2010 that relies on spending cuts, fund adjustments, and $585 million in federal stimulus funds to eliminate an expected $680 million revenue shortfall next year.