Featured Municipal Bond Issue, Week of 10/23/2017: State of Illinois New Bond Issue – General Obligation Bonds – $4.5 Billion
This week’s featured bond comes from the State of Illinois. The State of Illinois is issuing general obligation bonds in the amount of $4.5 billion the week of October 23, 2017. This State of Illinois new bond issue is a single, tax-exempt series, Series of November 2017D. The purpose of the bond proceeds is to pay vouchers previously incurred by the State.
The failure of State elected officials to enact a full General Fund budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 contributed to a significant backlog of unpaid bills, estimated by the State of Illinois Comptroller to be $15.1 billion as of September 30, 2017. The proceeds of these bonds, and other currently authorized general obligation bonds for the purposes of paying previously incurred vouchers, will not cover the full backlog, and structural deficits still exist for future fiscal year budgets unless elected officials move to further reduce expenditures or increase revenues, or some combination of both.
Security for the bonds is a general pledge of the full faith and credit of the State of Illinois. Further details on the purposes, tax-status, and security, as well as other matters pertaining to these California general obligation bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement, provided by MuniOS.
Provided at left (click to expand) is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of State of Illinois as of 6/30/2016, compared with the medians for other U.S. States for 2015-2016, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database.
These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.
by Jeffrey L Garceau