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More than a year's hotel tax, still unspentTexas local debt is up 75% in nine years
A rising balance is not the same thing as a year of new borrowing. School districts, cities, and water districts account for most of the increase, and Houston’s $15.4 billion is mostly revenue debt.
Read this in the original
This entry provides context and source notes. Its detailed explanation remains in the original build; a separate visual breakdown has not yet been authored here.
- Start with the question and coverage below.
- Open the original to inspect the records, controls and evidence behind the finding.
- Check the source dates and methodology before comparing figures or drawing a conclusion.
What you’re looking at
A plate of Bond Review Board debt outstanding, FY2016 to FY2025, split by issuer type. The open-data rows sum to $365.5 billion in FY2025. The Board’s annual report puts the same year at $368.9 billion. Real growth, after U.S. CPI-U, is 30 percent.
The question behind it
Show the stock of local debt still owed, who holds it, and how the open-data total differs from the Board’s published annual-report figure.
Why it matters
A rising balance is not the same thing as a year of new borrowing. School districts, cities, and water districts account for most of the increase, and Houston’s $15.4 billion is mostly revenue debt.
Open the full visualizationSources & method
- Texas Bond Review Board, Debt Outstanding By Issuance, Local, by Year (data.texas.gov/d/3qmf-seku)
- BRB Local Issuance Fee By Year (data.texas.gov/d/9gzb-2s7j)
- BRB 2025 Local Government Annual Report, February 2026
- U.S. CPI-U, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Method
Sum of issuance-level principal outstanding by fiscal year in the open-data file. This is debt owed at each August 31, not new borrowing. Excludes conduit debt and obligations under one year. The FY2025 open-data sum is $365.5 billion; the annual report’s Table 1.1 is $368.9 billion. Real change uses national CPI-U, August 2016 to August 2025.