Montana

Decision instrument

No state debt unless two-thirds of each house, or a majority of the electors, authorizes it. There is no dollar cap.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Montana Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8. The state may not create debt to cover a deficit that happened because appropriations exceeded anticipated revenue. Section 11 says borrowed money may be used only for the purpose named in the authorizing law. The annual report repeats both rules.

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. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county, and a city or town, stops at 2.5% of assessed value. A school district is a different rule.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? The constitution, Article VIII, Section 10, tells the legislature to set the local limit. It does not set the percentage. MCA 7-7-2101 stops a county at 2.5% of the total assessed value of taxable property, including debt already outstanding, from the last assessment. Conservation easements are left out. MCA 7-7-4201 stops a city or town at the same 2.5%, including unpaid debt. Bonds issued to repay a lost tax protest are left out. A separate statute lets a city add debt for a sewer or a water system it owns, if the water revenue pays that debt. That addition is not inside the 2.5%. A school district’s general-obligation capacity is the greater of its taxable value, or twice that value for a K-12 district, and the facility guaranteed mill value. That is MCA 20-9-406.

Conflict rule

An officer or employee who is directly involved may not be interested in the contract. A minority share of a corporation is not that interest.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? MCA 2-2-201. It covers legislators and state, county, city, town, and township officers, deputies, and employees. The contract is one they make in their official capacity, or one made by a body they sit on, if they are directly involved. The statute says a minority interest in a corporation is not “being interested.” A contract let by competitive procurement after the person has left the job is not covered. If going to someone else would cost more than 10% above the interested party’s price, or the work has to be done in a short time and no one else can do it, that geographic limit is also written as an exception. A city council member is separately barred, by MCA 7-5-4109, from a direct or indirect interest in the profits of a contract.

Geography

Fifty-six counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 30001 through 30111. Cities, towns, and school districts also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bonds: none. Special revenue bonds: none. The only primary-government note is $1.3 million.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, June 30, 2025. The note is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation loan for the Middle Creek Dam. Principal left is $1,337,000. It runs through fiscal 2034. The year began at $1,449,000. The payment that year was $112,000. Four general-obligation issues from 2020 were defeased in fiscal 2023. Principal still held in escrow, and no longer a liability of the state, is $49.7 million. The cash set aside for that escrow is $54.6 million.

Who pays the coupon

On the dam note, fiscal 2026 principal is $118,000 and interest is $7,000. Interest still on that note is $64,000.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? The report says the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state are pledged for general obligation debt. There is none outstanding. This note is the Bureau of Reclamation loan, not a bond. The INTERCAP program has a separate $65 million bond, issued to the state’s own investment pool, and it lends that money to agencies and local governments. It is carried as short-term debt, not as a general obligation.

Other obligors

Board of Housing bonds and notes: $689.1 million. Do not add them to the state’s zero.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Component-unit bonds and notes, including premiums, total $1.207 billion. Montana State University is $174.1 million plus $57.8 million of direct placements. The University of Montana is $285.7 million. The Facility Finance Authority has $1.3 billion of conduit bonds. Those are not a debt of the state. The Board of Investments’ exposure on guarantees of that authority is $96.5 million. The report says it has not had to pay on a guarantee. The Board of Housing also has $350.5 million of special limited obligations that are not even a debt of the Board. A statistical table adds leases, software subscriptions, and a water-compact settlement to the $1.3 million note and prints $188.7 million. That is not a bond total.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? There is no outstanding general-obligation series to confirm. The defeased 2020 issues are in escrow. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.