Amount of debt outstanding as of June 30 of each year.
SOURCES: IBO; New York City Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the Comptroller (various years); Annual Report of the Comptroller on Capital Debt and Obligations (various years); New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (various years)
NOTES: 1In determining what to include as outstanding debt of the City of New York, IBO considered: (1) the city's obligation (contractual and moral) to repay the debt, (2) whether the revenues pledged toward the repayment of the debt would have otherwise accrued to the city, and (3) whether the proceeds of the debt issuance accrue directly to the city.
2GO debt is net of bonds held for debt service on other city-related obligations, referred to in the Comptroller's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) as Treasury Obligations. The 2000–2002 CAFRs show outstanding general obligation debt, before Treasury Obligations, in 2000 and 2001 as $26,892 million and $26,836 million, respectively. However, CAFRs from 2003 on show higher GO debt for the two years, $353 million more for 2000 and $311 million more for 2001; the 2003 CAFR does not provide a note explaining the revisions. IBO uses the numbers reported from 2003 forward.
3Fiscal years 2000, 2002, and 2003 include short-term bond anticipation notes outstanding at year-end of $515 million, $2.2 billion, and $1.1 billion, respectively.
4For fiscal year 2000, Capital Lease Obligations to HHC and PCDC are reported jointly.
5In FY 2008, JSDC bonds outstanding were redeemed with GO bond proceeds, resulting in the elimination of JSDC debt, a reduction in conduit debt outstanding and partially accounting for the increase in GO debt from 2007 to 2008
General Obligation:
General obligation bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the city. City property tax collections are pledged first to pay the principal and interest on these bonds.
Treasury Obligations:
Treasury obligations are New York City bonds held as investments by the city or by the related entities covered here, including MAC and SFC. They are netted out in order to avoid double counting of the city's obligations.
Transitional Finance Authority:
Created in 1997, the Transitional Finance Authority (TFA) is a separate legal entity from the City of New York. TFA General Purpose Bonds are secured by the city's collections of personal income tax and, if necessary, sales tax. Recovery Bonds, issued in response to the events of September 11, 2001 differ from general purpose bonds in that they are excluded from the calculation of outstanding TFA debt allowed under the debt limit.
TFA Building Aid Revenue Bonds:
In fiscal year 2006, the city was authorized by the state Legislature to assign to the TFA all or any portion of the state building aid payable to the city or its school district. The TFA in turn is authorized to issue bonds secured by the aid and dedicated to financing a portion of the city's educational facilities capital plan.
TSASC:
TSASC Inc. (formerly known as the Tobacco Settlement Asset Securitization Corporation) is a separate legal entity from the City of New York. TSASC bonds are secured by the corporation's purchase from the city of the future revenue stream under a settlement agreement resolving cigarette smoking-related litigation between the settling states and participating manufacturers.
Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York:
The Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) was a separate legal entity from the City of New York, created in 1975 and formally dissolved in 2008. With New York City experiencing a severe fiscal crisis in 1975, MAC allowed the city continued access to credit markets and assisted in the prevention of a default of city general obligation bonds. MAC bonds were secured by state collections of certain sales and compensating use taxes (imposed by the state within the city at rates formerly imposed by the city), the stock transfer tax, and certain per capita state aid.
Samurai Funding Corporation:
The Samurai Funding Corporation (SFC) was a separate legal entity from the City of New York, which issued Japanese yen-denominated bonds. The yen-denominated bonds were secured by the proceeds of New York City general obligation bonds held by SFC.
Conduit Debt:
The city makes annual appropriations from its general fund for agreements with other entities that issue debt to build or maintain facilities on behalf of the city. These agreements are known as "leaseback" transactions, where the city makes rental payments to the partner entity in an amount sufficient to pay the entity's debt service on the securities issued for the respective capital expenditures. These entities, though legally separate from the city, either provide services exclusively to the city, have governance boards whose majority is appointed by the city, or are otherwise subject to the city's imposition of its will on the activities of the entity.
Excluded Items:
IBO considered several other items for inclusion as outstanding debt of the City of New York that were ultimately determined not to constitute obligations of the city, including: outstanding bonds of the Fiscal Year 2005 Securitization Corporation (FSC), outstanding bonds of the Sales Tax Asset Receivable Corporation (STAR), notes of the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation (HYIC), and general capital lease obligations.
FSC is a financing instrumentality of the city, formed for the purpose of issuing bonds, the proceeds of which were used to acquire securities, held in escrow, which economically defeased city general obligation bonds. As the general obligation bonds in question are included in the calculation of outstanding general obligation debt, the inclusion of the FSC bonds as well would constitute a double counting. As such, IBO does not count FSC debt outstanding toward total New York City debt outstanding.
STAR is a financing instrumentality of the city, formed for the purpose of issuing bonds, the proceeds of which were used to assume the remaining obligations of MAC. STAR pays the debt service on these bonds with revenues received from the Local Government Assistance Corporation, a state entity whose revenues are 1 percent of the statewide sales tax. The debt of STAR is not an obligation of the city, and the revenues used to pay STAR debt service would not accrue to the city in the corporation's absence. As such, IBO does not count STAR debt outstanding toward total New York City debt outstanding.
HYIC entered into an agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to purchase from the MTA Transferrable Development Rights. $200 million of notes were issued by HYIC, the proceeds of which were used to execute the transaction. Debt service on the notes was paid from the proceeds of the bonds issued by HYIC which are included in IBO's definition of outstanding debt under conduit debt. Therefore, inclusion in outstanding debt of the notes in addition to the bonds would constitute a double counting. As such, IBO does not count HYIC notes outstanding toward total New York City debt outstanding.
In addition to the capital leases deemed to be debt obligations of the city under conduit debt, various city agencies have entered into leases that have been determined under generally accepted accounting practices to be capital leases. Unlike issuers of conduit debt, the lessors of these general lease obligations do not exist to provide services exclusively to the city, do not have boards the majority of whose members are appointed by the city, or are not otherwise subject to the city's imposition of its will on their activities. These general capital lease obligations do not constitute an obligation of the city toward any bonds or other borrowing. As such, IBO does not count general capital lease obligations toward total New York City debt outstanding.
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