South Carolina

Decision instrument

General-obligation debt takes two-thirds of each house, or a statewide vote. The payment on most of it may not exceed 5% of the prior year’s general revenues.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Constitution, Article X. General-obligation debt is debt secured in whole or in part by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state. It has to be for a public purpose, and it has to be paid off within 30 years. The authorizing act has to set aside tax revenue each year for the payment. If a payment is missed, the Comptroller General levies, and the Treasurer collects, a property tax without a limit on the rate or the amount. The 5% test is the maximum annual debt service on general-obligation bonds, leaving out highway bonds, state institution bonds, tax-anticipation notes, and bond-anticipation notes. The revenues in the test also leave out money that may be pledged to highway bonds and institution bonds. Two-thirds of the total membership of each house can move that rate down to 4% or up to 7%. The financial report does not print that percentage. It prints the unused room under the statutes that carry the limit out: $764.918 million for general-obligation bonds other than institution and highway bonds, $134.987 million for highway bonds, $60.271 million for economic-development bonds, and $63.138 million for research-university infrastructure bonds.

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 12. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county or a school district may borrow, without a vote, up to 8% of assessed value. A vote of the qualified electors is a separate path, and that debt is not counted in the 8%.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article X. The 8% is of the assessed value of taxable property. The debt has to be for a public and corporate purpose, and it has to mature within 30 years. Debt approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting in a referendum is not counted against the 8%, and it has to be issued within five years of the vote. Bonded debt already outstanding when the article took effect is also left out of the 8%.

Conflict rule

A public official may not use the office to get an economic benefit of $50 or more for the official, a family member, or a business the official is tied to.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Code § 8-13-700 and § 8-13-100. The benefit has to be distinct from the benefit to the general public. If the official is required to act on such a matter, the official has to file a written statement and step aside. A member of the General Assembly is excused from the vote. A business tie includes being a director, an officer, an owner, an employee, or a paid agent. It also includes stock worth $100,000 or more that is at least 5% of a class. The 5% by itself is not the test. A benefit that comes to the official only as a member of a large class, and no more than to the rest of that class, is not this interest.

Geography

Forty-six 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, school districts, and universities also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bond principal of the primary government: $29.420 million, as of June 30, 2025. Unamortized premium is $8.216 million.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Note 12, in thousands. Principal due through 2029 adds to $29,420. Premium is $8,216. The payable is $37,636. Three net lines add to that payable: economic-development bonds $22,062, infrastructure-bank bonds $10,373, and research-university bonds $5,201. The report does not split the premium among them. Authorized and not yet sold: capital-improvement bonds $6.344 million, highway bonds $106.000 million, economic-development bonds $134.824 million, and research-university infrastructure bonds $13.680 million. Those amounts are not outstanding.

Who pays the coupon

In the year ending June 30, 2026, these bonds need $7.985 million of principal and $1.050 million of interest.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? Note 12. That is the whole primary-government general-obligation schedule. The General Fund pays the debt service on the bonds other than the infrastructure-bank bonds. The Local Government Infrastructure Fund pays the infrastructure-bank bonds. The full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state is behind all of them.

Other obligors

Revenue bonds of the primary government: $1.251 billion. University institution bonds: $354.710 million of principal. Do not add either to the $29.420 million.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 12, in thousands, net of premium except where principal is stated. Revenue debt is not backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state. The revenue-bond payable is $1,251,257, of which infrastructure-bank revenue bonds are $1,216,257. That is a different bond from the $10.373 million of infrastructure-bank general-obligation bonds already inside the $37.636 million payable. Notes payable are another $53,693. Institution bonds of Clemson, the University of South Carolina, and the Medical University are general obligations of those institutions. Their principal is $237,650, $83,730, and $33,330. The constitution leaves state institution bonds out of the 5% test. They are not added to the primary government’s $29.420 million.

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.