Florida

Decision instrument

Bonds that pledge the full faith and credit of the state need a vote of the electors, and only for fixed capital projects.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Florida Constitution, Article VII, Section 11. A refunding at a lower net average interest rate does not need another vote. The outstanding principal of the bonds issued under that subsection may not exceed 50% of the state’s total tax revenues for the two preceding fiscal years, leaving out taxes the constitution holds in trust. The report does not print that two-year test. A separate statute, section 215.98, is a debt-service policy, not that constitutional cap. If tax-supported debt service exceeds 6% of tax-supported revenues, the Legislature may authorize more only if it says the debt is in the state’s best interest. Above 7%, it must say the debt is needed for a critical emergency. For the year ended June 30, 2025, tax-supported revenues in that test were $61.799 billion. Six percent of that is $3.708 billion. Debt service applied to the test was $1.364 billion. The unused room under the 6% line was $2.344 billion. That is 2.21% of the revenues, and 36.79% of the 6% ceiling. The law required an appropriation of the money to pay state-bond debt service as it comes due.

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 11, and in the legal-debt-margin schedule. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county, a city, or a school district may not issue a bond payable from property taxes, and due more than twelve months out, unless the freeholders vote for it.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Florida Constitution, Article VII, Section 12. The voters are the electors who own property that is not wholly exempt from tax. A refunding at a lower net average interest rate does not need that vote. This section does not set a percent of assessed value. A city property tax is limited to 10 mills, and a tax levied to pay bonds is outside that mill cap. That is a limit on the tax rate, not a second debt ceiling.

Conflict rule

A public officer may not buy for the officer’s own agency from a business the officer, a spouse, or a child owns more than 5% of.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Florida Statutes § 112.312 and § 112.313. Material interest means direct or indirect ownership of more than 5% of the total assets or capital stock. For that definition, indirect ownership does not include a spouse or a minor child. The buying ban names the spouse and the child anyway, and it also covers a business in which any of them is an officer, partner, director, or proprietor. The same officer, acting privately, may not sell to the officer’s own agency. A separate rule bars an employment or a contract with a business that is doing business with, or regulated by, the officer’s agency. The general definition of a conflict, a private interest that tends to lead the officer to disregard a public duty, is not this 5% line.

Geography

Sixty-seven counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? Census county codes. There are 67. County seats are not in the financial report, so they are not filled in. Cities, school districts, and universities also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

Full-faith bond principal: $5.312 billion, as of June 30, 2025. A dedicated tax is pledged in front of the full faith and credit.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, Note 11, in thousands. Public education capital outlay bonds are $3,501,825, paid first from the gross receipts tax. Road and bridge bonds are $1,785,399, paid first from a motor-fuel tax. Capital outlay bonds are $24,930, paid first from a motor-vehicle license tax. Those three add to $5,312,154. Each one also pledges the full faith and credit of the state. A statistical schedule prints a full-faith column of $5.701 billion. That column is part of a carrying-amount table rounded to millions, and it is not this principal. The two figures are not subtracted.

Who pays the coupon

The report does not print a separate next-year payment for only these three programs.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? The schedule for all governmental bonds, a wider cut, shows $731.885 million of principal and $327.687 million of interest due in the year ending June 30, 2026. That schedule includes bonds that do not pledge the full faith and credit of the state. The legal-margin schedule uses a still wider figure, $1.364 billion of tax-supported debt service. Those three payment figures are not the same cut.

Other obligors

Other governmental bonds: $2.380 billion. Toll and hurricane bonds: $7.855 billion. Do not add either to the $5.312 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 11, in thousands. The other governmental bonds are $2,380,480. They include lottery, university, Florida Forever, Everglades, seaport, facilities-pool, transportation-financing, and federal highway reimbursement bonds. The note does not say they pledge the full faith and credit of the state. Unamortized premium on all governmental bonds together is $537,953, and it is not split. Business-type bonds are $7,855,126: turnpike and toll facilities $3,355,126, and hurricane-catastrophe bonds $4,500,000. Component-unit bonds, including housing finance, are another $5,143,387 of principal. The legal-margin footnote prints tax-supported debt outstanding of $10,047,820. That definition is full faith, or debt payable from general revenue or a specified state tax. It is wider than the $5.312 billion, and it is not added to it.

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.