Bonds

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House has placed public finance leaders on the defensive, as tax policy changes may impact the industry’s investor base, increase borrowing costs and stymie certain infrastructure finance opportunities. Looking to the past offers some insight

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has been working furiously the past 30 days launching her budget proposal and closing the door on a special session to deal with costs associated with a record-breaking 2024 wildfire season.Oregon Governor’s Office It’s been a busy 30 days for Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek. Since Thanksgiving, she has approved legislation drafted

“This ruling protects critical funding that helps us provide public safety, infrastructure and other essential services for our residents,” Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan said.City of Round Rock, Texas A Texas judge ruled largely in favor of six cities that sued the state comptroller over a move that would have cost them millions of dollars

A housing development in the Denver suburbs. Infrastructure for most new residential development in Colorado is financed through metropolitan district bonds.Bloomberg News A flurry of first time and repeated technical bond defaults by Colorado metropolitan districts in December is raising concerns about the debt, which finances public infrastructure such as roads, sewers, parks, and recreation

Laura Dougherty, staff attorney for the Howard Jarvis Association, was granted a one-month extension to Jan. 31 to file briefs in the case against San Jose.Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association The California Supreme Court agreed to an extension for filing briefs in San Jose v. Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association, the primary case challenging cities’ use of

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has consistently defended the fiscal guardrails he inherited when he first won the office in 2018.Bloomberg News Connecticut’s “fiscal guardrails,” a 2017 set of budget reforms, have a pretty big reputation, as budget policies go.  The guardrails, placed in the state’s bond covenants, forced the state to pay down billions of

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. The Republican on Friday lauded Wells Fargo’s move to leave the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, ending a review by his office that could have led to the bank being banned from underwriting state and local government bonds.Bloomberg News Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Moody’s Ratings does not rate Clyde, Texas, but it highlighted the city’s recent default in a report this week.Bloomberg News A small Texas city struggling with water scarcity disclosed this month that it took out a high-interest, short-term loan to repay companies that insured defaulted certificates of obligation. Clyde, a city of less than 4,000

Bellarmine University had very weak debt service coverage levels in the last three fiscal years, Moody’s Ratings said.AdobeStock Bellarmine University was downgraded to B1 from Ba3 by Moody’s Ratings, affecting about $60 million of outstanding debt. The outlook is negative. The downgrade on the Kentucky-based school stemmed from declining enrollment, persistent use of reserves, and

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee introduced a 2025-27 biennium budget proposal Tuesday he says will need to account for billions in increased costs due to inflation.Washington office of the governor Washington Gov. Jay Inslee released a proposed balanced, belt-tightening, biennium budget for 2025-27 in response to $12.6 billion in increased costs to the state due to

Election officials and volunteers process ballots in Utah County seat Provo in 2020. Voters this November approved measures to split the Alpine School District, which has more than $500 million of outstanding bonds, into three systems.Bloomberg News Utah’s largest public school district is preparing to split into three separate entities and divvy up its outstanding

Oklahoma County’s plan to replace its 13-story detention center in downtown Oklahoma City has been stalled by the city’s rejection of a site for the jail and escalating costs for the project.Oklahoma County Detention Center Oklahoma County wants to settle litigation over the location for a bond-financed jail in the wake of an unofficial state

Mark Baldassare, survey director at the Public Policy Institute of California.PPIC California’s certified election results show the state logged a record election in terms of the number of local measures and amounts approved, according to a report . Voters approved 205 school bond measures, authorizing $45 billion of funding for elementary, high school and community

With costs escalating for a 15-year expansion program, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority board approved a toll hike ahead of a $1 billion bond sale slated for early 2025. Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Ahead of a $1 billion bond sale early next year for an expansion program with rising costs, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority hiked toll rates

Orlando Health senior vice president of finance John Miller said offering the bonds in one state rather than two states will save his company bond counsel and other fees. The Orange County, Florida, Health Facilities Authority will offer $1.4 billion of hospital revenue bonds for Orlando Health the week of January 13. OCHFA will sell

A view of the St. Augustine’s University campus with downtown Raleigh, North Carolina in the background.St. Augustine’s University A controversial, high interest-rate loan is helping one of the oldest historically Black colleges in the country, Saint Augustine’s University, stay afloat – for now. After struggling for years to maintain steady enrollment, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based

California’s bond rating outlook was revised to stable from negative by Moody’s Ratings.Bloomberg News California’s improved revenue outlook has brought the Golden State an improved rating outlook. Moody’s Ratings revised the outlook on California’s Aa2 rating to stable from negative Monday afternoon. Moody’s had revised the outlook to negative in May 2023 citing the state’s

Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management, far left, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Republican lawmakers on Dec. 5, 2024 about efforts to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.Al Drago/Bloomberg California’s publicly funded high-speed rail project, a favorite target of Congressional Republicans, faces a fresh threat when President-elect Donald Trump

“What we’re looking at for 2025 is a few warning lights on the dashboard that there could be some stress on state budgets in the next year,” said Tim Storey, CEO at the National Council of State Legislatures.   ”I’ve seen five to seven states that are saying, ‘we’re starting to project slower revenue growth, perhaps even

James West is CEO and CIO of Principal Street Partners, which plans to acquire the clients of bankrupt money manager Greenwich Investment Management. Principal Street Partners, a Memphis-based investment firm, will acquire the clients of a bankrupt money manager that specialized in buying high-yield bonds issued for senior living facilities and charter schools. A U.S.