New York

Decision instrument

State debt needs a majority of the votes cast for and against it, one purpose at a time.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? New York Constitution, Article VII, Section 11. The law must name a single work or purpose. It cannot go on the ballot within three months of passage, and it cannot share a ballot with another law or bill. Sections 9, 10, and 13 name exceptions. The bonds that come out of that vote are general obligations. Personal income tax bonds and sales tax bonds do not take that vote. They are issued by public authorities.

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 state’s year ends March 31, not June 30. Debt is in the comptroller’s annual report. County, city, town, and village dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county other than Nassau may not go above 7% of the average full valuation of its taxable real estate.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article VIII, Section 4, and Local Finance Law § 104.00. Nassau County and New York City are 10%. A city of 125,000 or more is 9%. A smaller city, a town, and a village are 7%. A school district inside a smaller city is 5%, and that 5% can be raised only with 60% of the voters voting on it, plus the Regents and the comptroller. Debt over the line is void. The state’s own general obligation stock is limited to what voters approved. The Debt Reform Act of 2000 caps newer state-supported debt. At March 31, 2025, $39.4 billion counted toward that cap, about $25 billion under the outstanding limit. Debt issued in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was taken out of the cap.

Conflict rule

A municipal officer may not have an interest in a contract they can approve. Under 5% of a corporation’s stock is an exception.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? General Municipal Law §§ 801 and 802. The ban applies when the officer can negotiate, prepare, authorize, or approve the contract or the payment, audit the claim, or appoint someone who can. Owning or controlling less than 5% of a corporation’s stock is an exception, not the definition of a conflict. So is a contract whose payments, added to the officer’s other interested contracts that year, stay at or under $750. This is the municipal contract rule. It is not a percent test for every vote.

Geography

Sixty-two counties. Five of them are New York City boroughs.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 36001 through 36123. Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond do not have a separate county government. The other 57 counties do. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

$2.269 billion voter-approved general obligation bonds.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Comptroller’s annual report, year ended March 31, 2025. Principal began the year at $2.128 billion. Issued: $540 million, of which $345 million was new and $195 million was refunding. Redeemed: $399 million. Authorized and not yet issued: $5.6 billion. That is permission the voters already gave. It is not bonds outstanding.

Who pays the coupon

Full faith and credit. Principal and interest paid on these bonds during the year was about $263 million.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? That $263 million is the year that ended March 31, 2025, principal and interest together. A federal subsidy of $7 million came back on the Build America Bonds. The schedule of future payments on the authority borrowings is a different pile. It is not this coupon.

Other obligors

Personal income tax bonds: about $38.8 billion. Do not add them to the $2.269 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Sales tax bonds are about $14.5 billion. Both figures include governmental and business-type activities. Governmental financing arrangements, which hold most of those bonds, were $41.163 billion. Debt service paid on that governmental pile during the year was $4.5 billion. The next year’s schedule on that same pile is principal $758 million and interest $1.851 billion. Payment still needs an appropriation. The primary government’s $62.2 billion of total debt includes premiums and is not the general obligation stock. SUNY and CUNY educational-facility debt was $13.7 billion at June 30, 2024, and is paid from the General Fund. A Gateway service contract pledges up to $2.85 billion plus interest. About $14 million had been drawn.

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.