- New York state, school districts lead bond ballot measures
- This year’s tally is above what US voters considered in 2021
Voters on Tuesday will weigh at least $66 billion of bond measures put forth by states and municipalities across the US that seek to finance projects like new schools and climate resiliency efforts.
The proposed borrowing is more than double the $27 billion on ballots at this time last year and among the highest volume of bonds up for a vote since at least 2009, according to a Bloomberg analysis of a preliminary tally of bond measures compiled by IHS Markit. The total excludes referendums by Texas’s utility and water districts.
The increase comes as states and cities have been collecting better than expected revenue in the last fiscal year, shoring up the budgets after a period of financial uncertainty at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. New York, for example, was supposed to ask voters to approve $3 billion of environmental bonds in 2020 but took the measure off the ballot after the pandemic clouded the state’s fiscal picture. That referendum was subsequently upsized and placed on this year’s ballot.
Bloomberg Markets
Nic Querolo
November 7, 2022