Assessing General Obligation Debt Burden. This case focuses on the analysis of a city’s general obligation debt burden. After examining the accompanying table that shows a city’s general obligation (tax supported) debt for the last ten fiscal years, answer the following questions.

Required

a. What is your initial assessment of the trend of the city’s general obligation debt burden?

b. Complete the table by calculating the ratio of Net General Bonded Debt to Assessed Value of taxable property and the ratio of Net General Bonded Debt per Capita. In addition, you learn that the average ratio of Net General Bonded Debt to Assessed Value for comparable size cities in 2011 was 2.13 percent, and the average net general bonded debt per capita was $1,256. Based on time series analysis of the ratios you have calculated and the benchmark information provided in this paragraph, is your assessment of the city’s general obligation still the same as it was in part a, or has it changed? Explain.

Ratio of Net General Bonded Debt to Assessed Value and Net Bonded Debt per Capita

(Last Ten Fiscal Years—$000s omitted)

Fiscal

Year

Estimated

Population

Assessed

Valuation

Gross

Bonded

Debt

Less: Amount

in Debt

Service Fund

Net

Bonded

Debt

Net General

Bonded Debt

to Assessed

Value

Net General

Bonded

Debt per

Capita

2002

85,359

$1,488,391

$165,454

$101,789

$ 63,665

——

——

2003

86,935

1,552,844

164,496

100,482

64,014

——

——

2004

88,128

1,668,126

186,273

100,197

86,076

——

——

2005

90,599

1,792,747

192,151

99,545

92,606

——

——

2006

92,061

1,939,316

206,856

100,690

106,166

——

——

2007

93,524

2,057,130

212,323

106,655

105,668

——

——

2008

94,986

2,197,710

221,287

102,518

118,769

——

——

2009

96,647

2,386,169

261,519

117,212

144,307

——

——

2010

97,610

2,585,416

291,736

120,326

171,410

——

——

2011

99,208

2,843,133

280,654

106,551

174,103

——

——