Utah

Decision instrument

State debt for a deficit or a public purpose stops at 1.5% of the value of taxable property. Borrowed money is used only for the purpose it was borrowed for.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Utah Constitution, Article XIV, Section 1. The value is the last assessment for state purposes before the debt is incurred. The defense of the state, in Section 2, is the exception. The state’s own schedule applies the 1.5% to fair market value, not to the lower taxable value. Fair market value was $842.822 billion. The limit on that schedule is $12.642 billion.

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 10. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county stops at 2% of taxable property. A city, town, or school district stops at 4%. A property-tax debt over this year’s taxes needs a majority of the votes.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article XIV, Sections 3 and 4. The value is the last assessment. A city uses its own assessment. A city of the first or second class may add another 4%, and any other city or town another 8%, for water, lights, or sewers it owns. The debt has to be for that government’s own purpose.

Conflict rule

It is an offense for a public officer to use the office to further the officer’s own economic interest, or to get a special privilege.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Utah Code § 67-16-4, in effect May 6, 2026. The same section covers disclosing controlled information to further that interest, and taking other employment the officer expects would impair independent judgment. The statute does not set a percent of ownership as the test.

Geography

Twenty-nine counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 49001 through 49057. Cities, school districts, and transit and port authorities also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bond principal: $1.103 billion. The payable, with premium, is $1.162 billion.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, Note 10, June 30, 2025. Principal is $1,102,700,000. Of that, $1,026,300,000 is the main general obligation line and $76,400,000 is a 2017 refunding sold directly. Unamortized premium is $59,547,000. Principal plus premium is $1,162,247,000. The bonds pledge the full faith and credit of the state. No general obligation bonds were issued in fiscal 2025, and the letter at the front of the report says none have been issued since fiscal 2020. Unissued highway authority left is $122.777 million. Unissued rail and transit authority left is $266.640 million. Those are permissions, not debt outstanding.

Who pays the coupon

In fiscal 2026 the general obligation bonds need $255.340 million of principal and $36.785 million of interest.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? Note 10. The Legislature appropriates the debt service from general tax revenues. The 1.5% schedule counts the $1.162 billion payable, not the $1.103 billion principal, against the $12.642 billion limit. The margin on that schedule is $11.480 billion. A separate statute, Title 63J-3-402, caps outstanding general obligation debt at 45% of the appropriations limit unless more than two-thirds of both houses vote otherwise. That statutory limit for 2025 is $2.478 billion. Highway bonds of $943 million are taken out before that test. What remains inside the test is $219 million. Capacity left on that test is $2.259 billion. The highway bonds are still inside the constitutional count.

Other obligors

Building-authority lease revenue bonds: $229.290 million of principal. Component-unit revenue bonds: $5.933 billion. Do not add either to the $1.103 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 10 says these are not general obligations of the state. Governmental lease-revenue principal is $122.829 million. Business-type lease-revenue principal is $106.461 million. The component-unit revenue bonds are the University of Utah $2.194 billion, Utah State University $361 million, the Utah Transit Authority $1.974 billion, and other authorities $1.405 billion. They are paid from fees, hospital revenue, or a sales tax, not from the state’s full faith and credit.

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.