Mississippi

Decision instrument

The legislature authorizes each bond issue. The state’s bonded debt may not exceed one and one-half times the highest revenue of the four preceding years.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Mississippi Constitution, Section 115. The fiscal year ends June 30. The revenues used in the test, by the state’s practice, are taxes, licenses, fees, investment income, rent, service charges including the net from alcoholic-beverage sales, fines, and penalties. The highest of the four years through fiscal 2023 was $11.783 billion. One and one-half times that is $17.674 billion. This section does not require a public vote. The Bond Commission, made up of the governor, the attorney general, and the treasurer, approves the sale.

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? The latest annual report on the state’s site is for the year ended June 30, 2024. State debt is in Note 9 and in the legal-debt-margin table. A report for the year ended June 30, 2025, is not the record used here. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county bond stops at 15% of assessed value. A city bond stops at 15%. A second cap, 20%, covers all general-obligation debt that property taxes help pay.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Miss. Code § 19-9-5 and § 21-33-303. The county may use 15% of the last assessment or 15% of the assessment on which taxes were levied for the year ended September 30, 1984, whichever is greater. The city may use 15% of the last assessment or 10% of that 1984 assessment, whichever is greater. Bonds for a hospital, a port, or another project paid first from its own revenue can be left out of the county’s 15%. School, water, sewer, gas, and light bonds can be left out of the city’s 15%. The 20% cap is on all general-obligation debt, bonded and floating, that is payable from property taxes. A washed-out bridge can raise the county’s first cap to 20%. School-district bonds have a separate statute. That statute is not attached.

Conflict rule

A public servant may not use the office to get a pecuniary benefit for the servant, a relative, or a business the servant is tied to.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Miss. Code § 25-4-105 and Constitution Section 109. A business counts if the servant or a relative is an officer, director, owner, partner, or employee, holds more than 10% of its value, draws more than $2,500 a year from it, or controls it. An ownership of less than 10% is not a material financial interest if the income from it is under $1,000 a year. An ownership under 2% is not material if the income is under $5,000. A board member may not have an interest in a contract that board authorized, during the term and for one year after. A relative is a spouse, child, parent, sibling, or the spouse of one of those.

Geography

Eighty-two counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? Census county codes 28001 through 28163. 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

General obligation bond principal: $3.918 billion, as of June 30, 2024. Premium adds $139.607 million.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, Note 9, in thousands. The bonds and notes outstanding are $3,918,064. Unamortized premium is $139,607. The carrying amount is $4,057,671. Every one of them is backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state. The legal-debt-margin table applies that $4,057,671 carrying amount, then subtracts $343,072 available for debt service. Net debt applied to the limit is $3,714,599. The margin under the $17,673,762 ceiling is $13,959,163, which is 21% of the ceiling used. Note 10’s table of general-obligation purposes shows $1,319,385 still authorized and not issued. That table is not a list of every purpose in the outstanding bonds.

Who pays the coupon

In the year ending June 30, 2025, these bonds needed $311.443 million of principal and $128.496 million of interest.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? Note 9. That is the first year on the schedule dated June 30, 2024. Remaining interest on the general-obligation bonds is $914.376 million. The report says the bonds are backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state.

Other obligors

Limited-obligation bonds: $377.230 million. University revenue bonds: $1.320 billion. Do not add either to the $3.918 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 9 and Note 11. The limited-obligation bonds are paid only from specific pledged general-fund revenues. They are not backed by the full faith and credit of the state. In the year ending June 30, 2025, they needed $17.480 million of principal and $18.078 million of interest. Premium on them is $39.233 million. They are not inside the $4.058 billion used in the debt-limit calculation. University bonds of $1,313,988 and notes of $5,515 are component-unit debts, paid by the users of the facilities, and the state is not liable.

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.