How to read the file
A place can have a statute without a named bond series, and a bond series without a commercial payoff. Collapsing them into “who owns the town” is how a file becomes false. The three layers below are the frame for every state. The statute names in this page are New Jersey’s.
A
New Jersey’s Local Bond Law requires a public ordinance for a capital project: stated purpose, stated amount, and a first-year hit. Counties file an Annual Debt Statement every January. Net debt is capped at 2 percent of valuation for a county and 3.5 percent for a municipality.
B
Title on ordinary public paper sits at Cede & Co., nominee of the Depository Trust Company. Advisors and underwriters are named only from the official statement. There is no public list of the people behind that nominee.
C
Debt service is a claim on a public operating fund or a pledged stream — taxes, tolls, or rates. Print the yearly hit when the budget page is attached. Do not assume later stores pay the coupon.
They do not vanish. The remaining duty is short next to a twenty-five-year levy.
| Party | Still owes | Does not owe |
|---|---|---|
| Underwriter | Fair dealing on the sale, and a review of the official statement for investors. | No duty to make the project work or earn a return. |
| Municipal advisor | A duty of loyalty on the financing itself. | Does not operate the road or the plant for twenty years. |
| Bond counsel | An opinion that the bonds were validly issued. | Not a construction inspector. |
| Contractor and designer | A punch list and, typically, about a year to correct defects. | After the building is turned over, risk of the asset moves to the owner. |
| Developer, when there is one | Whatever the development agreement still says. | On a tax-increment deal, the public still holds the tax pledge if the private project misses. |
| The board that voted | Political and ethics exposure. They still sit in the seats. | No personal check for the yearly coupon on an ordinary bond. |
| The issuer | Yearly financial updates for bondholders. | Those updates are about credit health, not whether the project was built to spec or made a profit. |
The Local Government Ethics Law covers local officers and managerial employees. It does not cover school boards. Those sit under the Schools Ethics Law.
“Interest” means ownership or control of more than 10 percent of a business. An officer must not act on a matter where that interest, or a family interest, could reasonably impair objectivity.
The annual disclosure lists income, gifts, businesses, and New Jersey real property. A publicly traded security generally does not have to be named unless the 10 percent test is met. The form is not a registry of “I hold this county’s bonds.” Silence on the form is not proof of no holdings.
A targeted rule — yes or no, plus an amount band, for covered seats on a named series — would be a local ethics choice on top of that statute. This file does not invent that rule and does not send the request.
One obligor, one file. A shared advisor is not a reason to mint one statewide total.
Transportation Trust Fund Authority
$20.5 billion bonds outstanding. About $1.51 billion annual debt service, plus about $0.15 billion NJ Transit EDA.
Do not add to the $38.6 billion. Much of this stock already sits inside the state report. Paid from constitutionally dedicated motor-fuels, petroleum, and sales-tax streams.
Turnpike Authority
2026 refunding resolution authorized not exceeding $3.0 billion. Outstanding stock not copied here.
Separate obligor. Toll pledge. Governor pre-approval February 23, 2026. Board March 4, 2026.
South Jersey Transportation Authority
Blank this sitting.
Expressway and Atlantic City corridor. Not a county file.
Economic Development Authority
Blank this sitting.
Often the named issuer on state-contract paper the ACFR already carries. Do not add it twice.
Infrastructure Bank
Blank this sitting.
Local units borrow through it. The local debt statement may already show the loan.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Blank this sitting.
Bi-state compact. Not a New Jersey county file.
Municipalities
Each files its own Annual Debt Statement. Not rostered here.
Headcount is 564 in the 2022 Census of Governments and 566 on the State Library list. Do not paste a township note onto a county row.
School districts
Blank this sitting.
Different ethics statute. Often a deduction inside a municipal debt statement.