State debt has dropped $2 billion since 2010

[tag]

State debt has dropped $2 billion since 2010

Florida has reduced state debt by $2 billion over the past two fiscal years, according to an annual report on state debt out this month.

The Florida Debt Affordability Report says the state has $26.2 billion in “direct debt,” which is supported by taxpayer dollars. That’s down from $27.7 billion last year and $28.2 billion in 2009, a ten year high.

Read the report

The current debt figure consist of $15 billion for higher education construction projects, $7.1 billion tied to transportation projects, and $2.5 billion in land purchases.

Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers have put a priority on reducing the state’s debt burden while not upping revenues, a byproduct of that, however, is less money available for infrastructure spending (Education officials have noticed).

The state issued just $415 million in new debt in 2012, significantly lower than the $2 billion annual average over the past decade.

Other findings in the report include:

The state will pay $2.2 billion on debt service this year, which is 7.14 percent of the state’s available funds. The report says that number will fall below 7 percent, which is identifies as the “cap,” by the end of 2013.
Fiscal year 2012 ended with reserves at $2 billion, or 8.5 percent of general revenue. Rating agencies consider 5 percent adequate.
Reserves, which include unspent general revenue and the state’s ‘rainy day fund,’ reached a ten year high of $6.1 billion in 2006. The fund is expected to grow to $2.6 billion by the end of 2013.
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog...2-billion-2010

[DBRYAN]

Interesting but Florida has been controlled by Republicans all during this time period. What's your point?

[Menzies]

Interesting but Florida has been controlled by Republicans all during this time period. What's your point?

Maybe you could start by explaining your point? It does not seem to be, in any way, a direct response to his post.

[DBRYAN]

It's been a Republican controlled issue. They racked up the debt and now we should celebrate because they cut services?

[cpr]

The RINO Crist spent too much and Scott fixed it by cutting spending. Same as any responsible person would do. If you can't afford it don't spend it.

[DBRYAN]

So the collapsed economy and falling home prices had nothing to do with it?

[tag]

Interesting but Florida has been controlled by Republicans all during this time period. What's your point?

It's simple. Rick Scott in an un-obama like fashion has used sound conservative fiscal management to cut unnecessary spending to control debt.

[nuevowavo]

So the collapsed economy and falling home prices had nothing to do with it?

No, the state has borrowed less money:

"The state issued just $415 million in new debt in 2012, significantly lower than the $2 billion annual average over the past decade."

[DBRYAN]

No, the state has borrowed less money:

"The state issued just $415 million in new debt in 2012, significantly lower than the $2 billion annual average over the past decade."

and if the tax rate was set appropriately for expenditures we wouldn't have any debt. When I lived in Texas my property taxes were about doubled what I pay here.