Debt Service

Purpose

The City of Victoria recognizes the primary purpose of capital improvements is to support provision of services to its residents. The City limits long-term debt to only those capital projects that cannot be financed from current revenues. In addition, the City does not use long-term debt to finance recurring maintenance and operating costs and issue debt longer than the estimated useful life of the capital project.

There are various types of debt instruments available to the City of Victoria to finance large capital improvement programs; however, the City mainly uses the following debt instruments for long-term financing.

Certificate of Obligation (C.O.)

Legal debt instruments used to finance capital improvement projects. Certificates of Obligation are backed by the full faith and credit of the government entity and are fully payable from a property tax levy. Certificates of Obligation differ from general obligation debt in that they are approved by the City council and are not voter approved

General Obligation Bonds (G.O.)

Bonds that finance a variety of public projects such as streets, buildings, and capital improvement. They are backed by the full faith and credit of the City and are voter approved.

Revenue Bonds

Bonds whose principal and interest are payable exclusively from user fees (i.e. revenue generated by the water and wastewater system.

The City’s debt management policy and Post Bond Issuance Compliance Policy can be found in the Financial and Budgetary Policy section of the annual budget.

• Combined Bonded Debt Summary (PDF)
• Post Bond Issuance Compliance Policy (PDF)

The following is an update on the City’s Debt Capacity which was presented to City Council in December 2021.

• Debt Capacity Presentation (PDF)

The following documents are the current debt service requirements for the City's GO/CO and Revenue bonds.

• GO/CO Bond Book (PDF)
• Revenue Bond Book (PDF)