Ohio

Decision instrument

These general obligation programs exist because voters approved them. Casual-deficit debt is capped at $750,000.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Ohio Constitution, Article VIII, Section 1. The treasurer’s sinking-fund report records the voter authorizations behind each program on the schedule. Coal development, for example, was approved November 5, 1985, by 1,439,344 yes to 807,647 no. In May 2025 voters extended the local-infrastructure program for ten years and raised its annual issuance from $200 million to $250 million. Article VIII, Section 5, says the state shall never assume the debt of a county, city, town, township, or corporation, unless that debt was created to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the state in war.

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 general obligation principal is in the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund report for the six months ended June 30, 2025. Dollar amounts there are rounded to the nearest thousand. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county may not incur unvoted net debt above 1% of its tax valuation.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Ohio Revised Code § 133.07. The county’s share of state-highway work, without a vote, stops at one-half of 1%. Total net indebtedness, voted and unvoted, stops at 3% if tax valuation is $100 million or less; at $3 million plus 1.5% of the excess over $100 million if valuation is between $100 million and $300 million; and at $6 million plus 2.5% of the excess over $300 million if valuation is above $300 million. For the state, Article VIII, Section 17, blocks a new direct obligation paid from the General Revenue Fund or lottery proceeds if debt service in any future year would exceed 5% of estimated general-fund revenues plus net lottery proceeds in the year of issuance. Three-fifths of each house can waive that test for a particular issue. War debt is left out of the calculation. Separate outstanding caps sit on the programs themselves: coal $100 million, conservation $400 million, highways $1.2 billion, natural resources $200 million.

Conflict rule

A public official may not authorize a contract in which the official, family, or a business associate has an interest. Five percent is an exception.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Ohio Revised Code § 2921.42. The exception applies only if there is no bribery and no purpose to defraud, the interest is limited to shares or to being a creditor, the shares do not exceed 5% and the amount owed does not exceed 5% of the organization’s debt, and an affidavit is filed before the contract. It is not the definition of every conflict.

Geography

Eighty-eight counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 39001 through 39175. Cities, villages, townships, and school districts also borrow under their own caps. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

$6.453 billion general obligation bonds.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, June 30, 2025. Principal: $6,452,560,000. On January 1 it was $6,040,455,000. Issued in the six months: $1,386,300,000, including $476,300,000 of higher-education refunding bonds. Refunded principal: $534,275,000. Matured: $439,920,000. The largest lines are infrastructure improvement, $1.809 billion; common schools, $1.804 billion; and higher education, $1.796 billion. Veterans’ compensation is $945,000.

Who pays the coupon

Full faith and credit. For the next six months the schedule shows $370.6 million of principal and $153.4 million of interest.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? That schedule runs July 1 through December 31, 2025. It is not a full fiscal year. Interest on the common-schools variable-rate bonds is an estimate. Interest actually paid from January 1 through June 30, 2025, was $136,980,000. The sinking-fund commissioners certify the amount and, for the coal bonds, the transfer comes from the General Revenue Fund. Not every program on the list is paid from that fund.

Other obligors

This $6.453 billion is general obligation principal only.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Obligations that are not general obligations are not on this schedule. This pass did not attach a separate total for them. Do not add program authorization caps, or the $750,000 casual-deficit ceiling, to the principal outstanding.

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.