Arkansas

Decision instrument

The state may not pledge its faith and credit unless a majority of the people voting on the question approve. There is no dollar cap on that pledge.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 20, and the annual report, Note 9. The amendment also allows a refunding of debt the state already owes, and the assumption of old road-district bonds, without a new vote. Separate voter amendments later authorized highway, water, college, and economic-development bonds, each with its own ceiling.

Debt statement

No Annual Debt Statement of the New Jersey kind.

What yearly filing states gross debt, deductions, and how close the issuer is to its limit? State debt is in the annual report for the year ended June 30, 2025, Note 9. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county bond repaid by a property tax stops at 10% of assessed value. A city bond stops at 20%. Both need a majority of the votes.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Amendment 62. The value is the last tax assessment of real and personal property. Each purpose has to be a separate question. The election is held no sooner than 30 days after it is called. A short-term borrowing of five years or less, under Amendment 78, is a different limit: 2.5% of assessed value for a county and 5% for a city. That short-term borrowing is not counted against the 10% and 20% limits.

Conflict rule

A public servant may not use the office to get a special privilege, for the servant or the family, that other people cannot get.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Arkansas Code § 21-8-304. The family named in the statute is a spouse, a child, a parent, and anyone else in the first degree. It also covers a person with whom the servant has a substantial financial relationship. This section does not set a percent of ownership. A member of a state board may not vote on a matter in which the member has a pecuniary interest.

Geography

Seventy-five counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? Census county codes 05001 through 05149. County seats are not in the financial report, so they are not filled in. Cities, school districts, and colleges also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bond principal: $372.525 million. All of it pledges the full faith, credit, and resources of the state.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, Note 9, June 30, 2025, in thousands. Highway bonds are $42,595. Economic-development bonds are $39,360. Water, waste, and pollution bonds are $216,245. Higher-education bonds are $74,325. Together that is $372,525. Highway bonds may not have more than $575 million outstanding, and the Highway Commission may not issue any more under the 2007 act. Each water act stops at about $300 million, and at $60 million of new bonds in a two-year period unless the legislature allows more. The higher-education act stopped at about $250 million, and the combined yearly payment with the older college-savings bonds may not exceed $24 million. The report does not print that combined payment. No economic-development bonds and no higher-education bonds were issued in fiscal 2025. A 2025 water series of $25 million is outstanding.

Who pays the coupon

In the year ending June 30, 2026, these bonds need $71.090 million of principal and $13.919 million of interest.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? Note 9. The remaining principal is $372.525 million and the remaining interest is $91.414 million, through 2050. Highway bonds are paid first from federal interstate-maintenance money and from a state diesel tax of four cents a gallon. Water-project loan repayments are used first on the water bonds. Whatever is still due is paid from general revenue. The full faith and credit of the state is behind all of them.

Other obligors

Special-obligation bonds: $166.725 million. The state is not liable. Do not add them to the $372.525 million.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 9. Construction-assistance revolving-loan bonds are $147.080 million. Safe-drinking-water bonds are $19.645 million. They are paid only from loan repayments and the fees of those funds. Colleges and universities issue their own revenue bonds. Those campus balances are listed in the note and are not in the $372.525 million. The revenue-bond guaranty fund had guaranteed about $9.9 million of local industrial bonds. That is a guarantee, not state debt outstanding.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? Series-level confirmation still waits on that official statement. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.