Bonds

Cook County, Illinois, officials released a $9.89 billion executive budget recommendation Thursday, after saying in a press briefing Wednesday that the nation’s second-most populous county will see no new taxes or layoffs. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said 56 open positions are being cut. The eliminated positions were ones the county anticipated filling with

Muni advocates are gearing up for a contentious tax fight next year, particularly if Kamala Harris should prevail in the presidential election, as Congressional Republicans are already digging in with a nationwide tour preemptively attacking the tax policies of the current Vice President. On Tuesday, Rep. Jason Smith R- Mo., Chairman of the House Ways

Chattanooga, Tennessee, plans to price $80 million of bonds for a minor league baseball stadium that is pitched as the key to reviving a bedraggled part of the city. The Sports Authority of the County of Hamilton and City of Chattanooga, Tennessee will price $64.5 million in tax-exempt and $15.3 million in taxable bonds Oct.

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board and the bondholders opposed to the proposed plan of adjustment remain far apart, according to disclosures on the EMMA web site Tuesday night. U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain earlier this week extended the bankruptcy stay and set a Dec. 11 omnibus hearing to hear the opposing bond parties’

Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Ratings downgraded Xavier University, a private Jesuit college in Cincinnati, to A-minus from A and to Baa1 from A3, respectively, last week.  Fitch pointed to the school’s decision to take on more debt to finance the construction of a new College of Osteopathic Medicine at a time when operating performance has

Municipals were weaker Tuesday with the largest losses out long while U.S. Treasuries saw narrow gains on the day and equities ended up. Triple-A yields rose by up to five basis points, depending on the scale, while USTs saw yields flat or lower by a basis point or two. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was

The University of Arizona heads to the municipal bond market this week with its first bond issue since financial troubles led to negative rating outlooks from Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings. The $115.645 million of Stimulus Plan for Economic and Educational Development, or SPEED, revenue bonds issued through the Arizona Board of Regents will

Investors will have a chance to buy New York City’s third-ever social-labeled general obligation bonds this week. Comptroller Brad Lander said he has high hopes for the taxable $1.5 billion deal despite the awkwardness of Mayor Eric Adams’ recent federal criminal indictment on bribery charges.  “[The credit rating agencies] have reported they believe the city’s

Texas Capital is expanding its public finance team with the addition of five industry professionals, the Dallas-based financial services firm announced Friday. The public finance business was launched in May with the hiring of Steve Genyk, a former public finance head at UBS, as a managing director. The move came as the ranks of underwriters

U.S. Treasuries sold off Friday after payrolls came in much hotter than expected, leading economists and traders to pare back rate cut expectations. The municipal market could not ignore the moves and triple-A yields rose, but outperformed taxables to a large extent, pushing ratios lower. Equities rallied on the news, pushing the Dow to close

Dennis J. Enright, founding principal of NW Financial Group and NW Capital Markets, has died, the New Jersey-based firm announced Thursday. He was 76. Enright’s career spanned a half-century, and he was a pioneer in many now-common financing strategies.  “He was a premier banker, always innovating and searching for client solutions that would save money,”

Taxpayers shoulder a heavy burden for sports stadium subsidies, the Tax Foundation said this week. Reams of research shows that using bonds to finance sports stadiums and arenas do not generate enough revenue to justify the costs, the foundation said in a blog post Thursday. “According to the academic research, the tangible economic benefits job

The California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank board of directors approved $26 million in loan financing for the city of Santa Cruz for two wastewater improvement system projects, IBank officials said Thursday. The funding will help the city replace and upgrade decades-old equipment with the aim of preventing costly repairs, protecting pipelines from corrosion, improving

The next generation of public policymakers and public finance practitioners will mingle with current municipal finance pros at a career forum hosted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s Center for Municipal Finance. During the week of Oct. 14, the CMF will hold lunchtime seminars designed to help interested students get the

After taking a hit in the wake of the deadly 2023 wildfire that devastated the West Maui town of Lahaina, municipal bonds issued for investor-owned utility Hawaiian Electric are on an upswing. The debt, trading in the secondary market as low as 63 cents on the dollar last year, had recovered to the 95 and

Municipals faced some pressure Thursday as U.S. Treasuries saw losses amid geopolitical uncertainty and mixed macroeconomic data ahead of Friday’s payrolls figure while equities were off near the close. The last large new-issues priced in the primary and secondary trading pointed to some weakness, leading to small cuts to triple-A yield curves.  Municipal bond mutual

The devastation Hurricane Helene rained on the mountain region of western North Carolina can be handled financially by governments in the short term but other municipal issuers may struggle and the long term is cloudy, analysts say. Helene hammered the area from Friday through Sunday, bringing rainfall amounts up to 31.3 inches, hurricane winds up

Municipals were a touch softer Wednesday, but outperformed U.S. Treasury weakness as investors focused on the primary market with several large new-issues pricing to solid demand. Equities were in the black to close the session. Triple-A yield curves were little changed to weaker by one to four basis points, depending on the curve, while Treasuries

The Ohio Water Development Authority was scheduled to return to market Tuesday with triple-A-rated revenue bonds, including $400 million of new money green bonds. New money proceeds will reimburse the agency for loans financing wastewater, stormwater and water pollution prevention projects. The OWDA jointly administers, with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the state’s bond-funded wastewater

In her new role as Indianapolis-based managing director at Crews & Associates, Susan Reed aims to bring both creative ideas and a deep well of experience to bear on the challenges facing Indiana issuers. Reed, who has worked as a bond attorney and a municipal advisor and has served in a community and economic development

Municipal bonds are directly or indirectly involved in a flurry of litigation in Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah triggered by defaults, bankruptcy, environmental concerns, or laws that punish financial firms for their stance on fossil fuels.  The outcomes of the lawsuits could determine if bonds can be issued, who is to blame for defaulted debt,