DEBT

Long-Term Debt

Long-term debt for the City of Salida consist of bonds, notes and capital leases. The City budgets for principal and interest payments to be made on outstanding debt each year. New debt issuances are placed according to the City’s debt policies.

The City has no publicly-traded debt outstanding and thus has no credit ratings outstanding. Furthermore, the City has not obtained credit ratings on any of its past issues. Ehlers, Inc., the City's municipal advisor, has reviewed the City's fiscal characteristics in the context of credit agency methodologies and has concluded that the City's future debt will obtain ratings that are solidly in the investment grade range.

The State of Colorado imposes a legal debt margin for all Colorado governments limiting the amount of general obligation bonds authorized to be 3% of the municipality's actual value as determined by the County Assessor. The City currently has no general obligation bonds and the legal debt margin is approximately $40M.

Except for refinancing bonded debt at a lower interest rate or adding new employees to existing pension plans, State of Colorado legislation requires any Colorado governmernt to seek advance voter approval for the creation of any multiple-fiscal year debt or other financial obligation unless adequate present cash reserves are pledged irrevocably and held for payments in all future fiscal years.

There is no new debt budgeted for 2022, the 2022 budget includes principal and interest payments on existing bonds, notes and leases described in the following table.

Click on the image to the right to access the City's Financial Polices which include policies surrounding debt issuance.