State treasurer Michael Fitzgerald reported Jan. 20 that Iowa outstanding debt obligations for state and local governments totaled $17.9 billion as of June 30, 2020, a 4.77 percent increase from fiscal year 2019.
“This is similar to the increase we saw last year,” said Fitzgerald. “With interest rates this low, public units are borrowing money to pay for capital projects that benefit Iowans, such as public buildings, schools and utility improvements.” The categories of public buildings/schools and utilities/sewers represent more than 60 percent of the total debt reported.
Cities recorded the largest share of outstanding debt ($6.56 billion), accounting for 36.56 percent of the total outstanding debt, an increase of more than $259 million from 2019.
The city of Jefferson has a total of $7,755,000 in outstanding debt.
Schools issued $4.45 billion while state authorities issued $2.84 billion.
Greene County Community Schools has a total of $29,942,941 in debt. Most of that is for the new high school and the repurposing of the former high school as the middle school.
Paton-Churdan has paid down $90,000 in debt in the past two years, with total debt now at $155,000.
Counties, state authorities and community colleges had the highest percentage increases from 2019 levels, while the state of Iowa, board of regents and utilities decreased their total outstanding debt.
Greene County has a total of $4,755,000 debt, all for construction of the regional career academy. That was new debt in 2020.
All political subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies of the state are required annually to disclose outstanding long-term obligations to the state treasurer. Included in these obligations are bonds, notes, capital leases and loans. The treasurer’s office makes this information available to all Iowans by county so they can see the total debt and changes over the years in their own communities.
Persons who want the information can visit the state treasurer’s website at IowaTreasurer.gov and click ‘Outstanding Obligations Report’ under the ‘For Governments’ tab to view the report. Click on Report Detail by County to view additional information for all entities by county.
