Opened file
Kentucky
Same nine questions as every other state. Answers are filled only where this state’s own statute or financial report is attached.
Decision instrument
A new state debt, other than a small deficit or an existing debt being refinanced, needs a tax to pay it off and a majority of the votes.
What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Constitution, Sections 49 and 50. Debts for a casual deficit may not exceed $500,000 in total. Invasion, insurrection, and a threatened war are separate. Any other debt needs an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest and to pay the debt off within 30 years. The act does not take effect until a majority of the votes cast for and against it, at a general election, approve it. Refinancing an existing state debt does not need that vote or that tax. The annual report says no general-obligation bonds were authorized or outstanding at June 30, 2025.
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 16, and in the management discussion. County dollar rows are not attached.
Debt limit
A county or a taxing district stops at 2% of taxable property. A city’s cap is 3%, 5%, or 10%, depending on population.
What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Section 158, as ratified in 1994. A city of 15,000 or more stops at 10%. A city of at least 3,000 and under 15,000 stops at 5%. A smaller city stops at 3%. The percentages use the last assessment. An emergency for public health or safety can go past the cap. Renewal bonds, and bonds that fund floating debt, are not stopped by this section. The General Assembly may set tighter limits. This section does not itself require a vote.
Conflict rule
A public servant may not use the office for a personal gain, and may not hold a contract with the employing agency through a business the servant owns more than 5% of.
Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? KRS 11A.020 and 11A.040. The gain includes a member of the public servant’s family. If the servant steps out of a decision because of a personal or private interest, that fact has to be disclosed in writing, and an impartial third person makes the decision. The 5% line is ownership or control of the business. Members of the General Assembly are under a different chapter. This card does not quote that chapter.
Geography
One hundred twenty counties.
What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? Census county codes. County seats are not in the financial report, so they are not filled in. Cities and taxing districts also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.
Primary money record
General obligation bonds outstanding: $0, as of June 30, 2025.
Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Management discussion. The report says none were authorized either. It still prints ratings for general-obligation debt: Moody’s Aa2, Fitch AA, S&P A+, and Kroll AA−. Those ratings are not an outstanding balance. The discussion also says bonded debt rose to $5.7 billion, and it prints net bonded debt of $5,849,345,000. Neither figure is general-obligation debt.
Who pays the coupon
There is no general-obligation debt service, because there is no general-obligation principal.
Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? The next-year requirement on the three-issuer table below is not a general-obligation payment. It is $517.444 million of principal and $241.394 million of interest, $758.838 million together, in the year ending June 30, 2026. Those payments depend on the revenues and the appropriations that secure each issue. The constitution’s voted debt would have required a tax. That tax was not levied for a general-obligation bond, because none is outstanding.
Other obligors
Three state issuers have $5.496 billion of principal outstanding. That is not general-obligation debt. Do not add it to the zero.
Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 16, in thousands, net of discounts and defeased bonds. State Property and Buildings Commission $3,921,645. School Facilities Construction Commission $901,701. Turnpike Authority of Kentucky $672,910. Those add to $5,496,256. The debt-service principal column adds to the same figure, and the interest column adds to $1,966,624. A separate highway-project table is $288.799 million of principal. A broadband table is $95.165 million. A hospital memorandum is $69.520 million. Certificates of participation are $155.555 million of principal. Component-unit revenue bonds print $4,972,058,000, but the report marks several of those lines as the original issue rather than the amount still unpaid. None of these is added to the general-obligation zero.
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.
120 counties. Dollars blank.
Names and codes are on the record. No local debt total is attached, so none is printed.
- Adair CountySeat: Not on this record21001Not proven
- Allen CountySeat: Not on this record21003Not proven
- Anderson CountySeat: Not on this record21005Not proven
- Ballard CountySeat: Not on this record21007Not proven
- Barren CountySeat: Not on this record21009Not proven
- Bath CountySeat: Not on this record21011Not proven
- Bell CountySeat: Not on this record21013Not proven
- Boone CountySeat: Not on this record21015Not proven
- Bourbon CountySeat: Not on this record21017Not proven
- Boyd CountySeat: Not on this record21019Not proven
- Boyle CountySeat: Not on this record21021Not proven
- Bracken CountySeat: Not on this record21023Not proven
- Breathitt CountySeat: Not on this record21025Not proven
- Breckinridge CountySeat: Not on this record21027Not proven
- Bullitt CountySeat: Not on this record21029Not proven
- Butler CountySeat: Not on this record21031Not proven
- Caldwell CountySeat: Not on this record21033Not proven
- Calloway CountySeat: Not on this record21035Not proven
- Campbell CountySeat: Not on this record21037Not proven
- Carlisle CountySeat: Not on this record21039Not proven
- Carroll CountySeat: Not on this record21041Not proven
- Carter CountySeat: Not on this record21043Not proven
- Casey CountySeat: Not on this record21045Not proven
- Christian CountySeat: Not on this record21047Not proven
- Clark CountySeat: Not on this record21049Not proven
- Clay CountySeat: Not on this record21051Not proven
- Clinton CountySeat: Not on this record21053Not proven
- Crittenden CountySeat: Not on this record21055Not proven
- Cumberland CountySeat: Not on this record21057Not proven
- Daviess CountySeat: Not on this record21059Not proven
- Edmonson CountySeat: Not on this record21061Not proven
- Elliott CountySeat: Not on this record21063Not proven
- Estill CountySeat: Not on this record21065Not proven
- Fayette CountySeat: Not on this record21067Not proven
- Fleming CountySeat: Not on this record21069Not proven
- Floyd CountySeat: Not on this record21071Not proven
- Franklin CountySeat: Not on this record21073Not proven
- Fulton CountySeat: Not on this record21075Not proven
- Gallatin CountySeat: Not on this record21077Not proven
- Garrard CountySeat: Not on this record21079Not proven
- Grant CountySeat: Not on this record21081Not proven
- Graves CountySeat: Not on this record21083Not proven
- Grayson CountySeat: Not on this record21085Not proven
- Green CountySeat: Not on this record21087Not proven
- Greenup CountySeat: Not on this record21089Not proven
- Hancock CountySeat: Not on this record21091Not proven
- Hardin CountySeat: Not on this record21093Not proven
- Harlan CountySeat: Not on this record21095Not proven
- Harrison CountySeat: Not on this record21097Not proven
- Hart CountySeat: Not on this record21099Not proven
- Henderson CountySeat: Not on this record21101Not proven
- Henry CountySeat: Not on this record21103Not proven
- Hickman CountySeat: Not on this record21105Not proven
- Hopkins CountySeat: Not on this record21107Not proven
- Jackson CountySeat: Not on this record21109Not proven
- Jefferson CountySeat: Not on this record21111Not proven
- Jessamine CountySeat: Not on this record21113Not proven
- Johnson CountySeat: Not on this record21115Not proven
- Kenton CountySeat: Not on this record21117Not proven
- Knott CountySeat: Not on this record21119Not proven
- Knox CountySeat: Not on this record21121Not proven
- Larue CountySeat: Not on this record21123Not proven
- Laurel CountySeat: Not on this record21125Not proven
- Lawrence CountySeat: Not on this record21127Not proven
- Lee CountySeat: Not on this record21129Not proven
- Leslie CountySeat: Not on this record21131Not proven
- Letcher CountySeat: Not on this record21133Not proven
- Lewis CountySeat: Not on this record21135Not proven
- Lincoln CountySeat: Not on this record21137Not proven
- Livingston CountySeat: Not on this record21139Not proven
- Logan CountySeat: Not on this record21141Not proven
- Lyon CountySeat: Not on this record21143Not proven
- McCracken CountySeat: Not on this record21145Not proven
- McCreary CountySeat: Not on this record21147Not proven
- McLean CountySeat: Not on this record21149Not proven
- Madison CountySeat: Not on this record21151Not proven
- Magoffin CountySeat: Not on this record21153Not proven
- Marion CountySeat: Not on this record21155Not proven
- Marshall CountySeat: Not on this record21157Not proven
- Martin CountySeat: Not on this record21159Not proven
- Mason CountySeat: Not on this record21161Not proven
- Meade CountySeat: Not on this record21163Not proven
- Menifee CountySeat: Not on this record21165Not proven
- Mercer CountySeat: Not on this record21167Not proven
- Metcalfe CountySeat: Not on this record21169Not proven
- Monroe CountySeat: Not on this record21171Not proven
- Montgomery CountySeat: Not on this record21173Not proven
- Morgan CountySeat: Not on this record21175Not proven
- Muhlenberg CountySeat: Not on this record21177Not proven
- Nelson CountySeat: Not on this record21179Not proven
- Nicholas CountySeat: Not on this record21181Not proven
- Ohio CountySeat: Not on this record21183Not proven
- Oldham CountySeat: Not on this record21185Not proven
- Owen CountySeat: Not on this record21187Not proven
- Owsley CountySeat: Not on this record21189Not proven
- Pendleton CountySeat: Not on this record21191Not proven
- Perry CountySeat: Not on this record21193Not proven
- Pike CountySeat: Not on this record21195Not proven
- Powell CountySeat: Not on this record21197Not proven
- Pulaski CountySeat: Not on this record21199Not proven
- Robertson CountySeat: Not on this record21201Not proven
- Rockcastle CountySeat: Not on this record21203Not proven
- Rowan CountySeat: Not on this record21205Not proven
- Russell CountySeat: Not on this record21207Not proven
- Scott CountySeat: Not on this record21209Not proven
- Shelby CountySeat: Not on this record21211Not proven
- Simpson CountySeat: Not on this record21213Not proven
- Spencer CountySeat: Not on this record21215Not proven
- Taylor CountySeat: Not on this record21217Not proven
- Todd CountySeat: Not on this record21219Not proven
- Trigg CountySeat: Not on this record21221Not proven
- Trimble CountySeat: Not on this record21223Not proven
- Union CountySeat: Not on this record21225Not proven
- Warren CountySeat: Not on this record21227Not proven
- Washington CountySeat: Not on this record21229Not proven
- Wayne CountySeat: Not on this record21231Not proven
- Webster CountySeat: Not on this record21233Not proven
- Whitley CountySeat: Not on this record21235Not proven
- Wolfe CountySeat: Not on this record21237Not proven
- Woodford CountySeat: Not on this record21239Not proven