Texas goes to Wall Street for a short-term loan of $5.4 billion

AUSTIN -- Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Thursday announced he's selling $5.4 billion in short-term IOUs to help manage the state's cash flow in the next few months.

Hegar will be issuing "tax and revenue anticipation notes," known as TRANs, for the first time in three years.

The Republican comptroller's announcement of an Aug. 22 auction of the securities contained good and bad news, said one expert on the state's finances.

While the state continues to receive the best possible bond ratings, which reduces the cost of borrowing, it also faces a "structural budget gap" of nearly $9 billion, said Dale Craymer, president of the business-backed Texas Taxpayers and Research Association.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/08/17/texas-goes-wall-street-short-term-loan-54-billion