Determining Municipal Debt Level

The sum of municipal debt outstanding is measured differently by every municipality. Some of the more common measures of municipal debt level include : Municipal debt level is generally measured by comparing one of these debt outstanding measures to some financial or other common standard. Common measures include (Weiner, 2013, p. 32-33):
 * Tax-supported debt, which is the sum total of debt that is supported by a municipality’s tax revenue.
 * Revenue-supported debt, which is the sum total of debt that is supported by a municipality’s revenue base.
 * Guaranteed revenue debt, which is the sum total of debt that is backed by a dedicated revenue source (revenue-backed bonds).
 * General obligation debt, which is the sum total of debt backed by the full faith and credit of the municipality.
 * Debt outstanding to revenues, or the sum of debt outstanding divided by total government revenues.
 * Debt outstanding to municipal personal income, or the sum of debt outstanding divided by the total personal income earned by all residents in a municipality.
 * Debt outstanding to GDP/GSP, or the sum of debt outstanding divided by total municipal economic output.
 * Debt outstanding per capita, or the sum of debt outstanding divided by the total population of a municipality.
 * Debt outstanding to assessed value of property, or the sum of debt outstanding to the total assessed value of property within a municipality.
 * Debt service to revenues, or the sum of annual debt service requirements divided by total municipal revenues.


 * Debt service to expenditures, or the sum of annual debt service requirements divided by total municipal expenditures.

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