Treasurer Smith Reports State and Local Outstanding Debt Obligations Increase 4.49% in Fiscal Year 2024
January 17, 2025
Lower than previous 7-year average
State Treasurer Roby Smith today released the Iowa Outstanding State and Local Government Report for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). Across all levels of Iowa government, outstanding debt obligations totaled $21.9 billion as of June 30, 2024. Overall, this represents a 4.49% increase over the previous fiscal year. This is lower than the previous seven-year average of 4.51%.
“State and local governments rely on community bonds, capital leases, loans and more to make meaningful investments into their communities,” said Smith. “Today’s announcement shows taxpayers the full picture of long-term obligations across multiple levels of government in a transparent manner for the public to evaluate.”
Each year, political subdivisions, state agencies and instrumentalities are required under Iowa Code to report any outstanding long-term obligations to the State Treasurer, which include bonds, notes, capital leases, anticipatory warrants and loans. A comparison from FY23 to FY24 can be found below.
|
FY 23 |
FY 24 |
$ Change |
% Change |
Board of Regents |
$1,874,463,975 |
$1,845,590,430 |
($28,873,545) |
-1.54% |
Cities |
$7,844,952,751 |
$8,236,488,401 |
$391,535,650 |
4.99% |
Schools/AEAs |
$5,173,485,472 |
$5,437,225,849 |
$263,740,377 |
5.10% |
State Agencies |
$419,443,828 |
$376,655,639 |
($42,788,189) |
-10.20% |
State Authorities |
$3,862,607,594 |
$4,147,534,160 |
$284,926,566 |
7.38% |
Community Colleges |
$695,450,507 |
$649,230,217 |
($46,220,290) |
-6.65% |
Counties |
$1,040,289,131 |
$1,153,471,184 |
$113,182,053 |
10.88% |
Other |
$61,582,674 |
$67,712,380 |
$6,129,706 |
9.95% |
Total |
$20,972,275,932 |
$21,913,908,260 |
$941,632,328 |
4.49% |
Some important stats to note from the FY23 to FY24 comparison:
- Cities possess the largest portion of debt with a combined $8.2 billion and the 10 largest cities make up 35.14% of debt in this category. Davenport, Sioux City, Iowa City and West Des Moines (four of the ten largest cities) decreased their long-term obligations in FY24.
- Counties had the highest year-over-year percentage increase from FY23 to FY24, with an overall increase of 10.88%.
- State Agencies had the largest margin of decreased long-term obligations by more than $42.7 million or a reduction of 10.2%.
Visit the FY24 State and Local Outstanding Debt Obligations page to learn more. In addition, individuals can view a graph from the last three fiscal years or view full data for the previous ten years.
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