Debt Obligations

Home Financial Transparency Debt Obligations

Harris County (the County) is committed to transparency in every aspect of its operations and believes that financial transparency and accountability are critical components of good stewardship of taxpayer resources. It is our mission to be an independent and progressive organization that presents accurate, timely, understandable, and readily accessible information for the citizens of Harris County.

Through its “Transparency Star” program, The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts recognizes local governments across Texas for going above and beyond in their transparency efforts. This is accomplished by providing citizens with clear and meaningful financial information not only by posting financial documents, but also through summaries, visualizations, downloadable data, and other relevant information.

Harris County Debt Information

Harris County issues a variety of long-term debt instruments in order to acquire and/or construct major capital facilities and equipment for governmental and business-type activities. These instruments include general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, and commercial paper.

General Obligation Bonds

General Obligation Bonds are direct obligations of the County with the County’s full faith and credit pledged toward the payment of these obligations and are issued upon approval by the public via an election. Debt service payments are primarily paid from ad valorem (property) taxes.

General Obligation Bonds provide funds for the acquisition and construction of major capital equipment, facilities, and infrastructure. The County has three classes of general obligation debt – Road Bonds, Permanent Improvement Bonds, and Flood Control Bonds. These General Obligation Bonds are direct obligations of the County with the County’s full faith and credit pledged toward the payment of these obligations and are issued upon approval by the public via an election. Debt service payments are primarily paid from ad valorem (property) taxes. General Obligation Bonds require the County to compute, at the time other taxes are levied, the rate of tax required to provide (in each year bonds are outstanding) a fund to pay interest and principal at maturity. The County is compliant with this requirement.

Revenue Bonds

Revenue Bonds are generally payable from the pledged revenue generated by the respective activity for which the bonds are issued. The Toll Road Project has been financed with a combination of unlimited tax and senior lien revenue bonds, subordinate lien revenue bonds and commercial paper. Proceeds from these bonds are being used to finance the construction and the related debt service. The Senior Lien Revenue Bonds are payable from the revenues of the Toll Road. The Tax Bonds are secured by and payable from a pledge of the County’s unlimited ad valorem tax and also are secured by a pledge of and lien on the revenues of the Toll Road, subordinate to the lien of the Senior Lien Revenue Bonds.

Upcoming Bond Elections

There are no upcoming bond elections planned.

Commercial Paper

Commercial paper is a general obligation of the County secured by ad valorem taxes for the purposes of financing various short-term assets and providing temporary construction financing for certain long-term fixed assets. The County commercial paper program totals $2.3 billion and consists of the following eleven series:
Series
Program Size
Authorized to be used for
A-1
$100 million
Technology improvements
B
$40 million
Parks and libraries
C
$360 million
Roads and bridges
D
$200 million
Construction of public works, purchase of automobiles and other vehicles, equipment and machinery, materials and supplies, professional services and other needs and purposes of the County.
D-2
$300 million
Construction of public works, purchase of automobiles and other vehicles, equipment and machinery, materials and supplies, professional services and other needs and purposes of the County.
D-3
$200 million
Construction of public works, purchase of automobiles and other vehicles, equipment and machinery, materials and supplies, professional services and other needs and purposes of the County.
H
$500 million
Acquiring land, construction, maintenance and/or operations on behalf of the Flood Control District.
H-2
$200 million
Flood Control projects
J-1
$75 million
CDBG-DR authorized disaster recovery programs
K
$200 million
Toll road projects
K-2
$150 million
Toll Road projects


Commercial Paper Ratings

As of June 14, 2023, the Commercial Paper ratings for the County, Flood Control District, and Toll Road are as follows:
Series
Fitch
Moody's
S&P
A-1
F1+
-
A-1+
B
F1+
-
A-1+
C
F1
-
A-1+
D
F1+
-
A-1+
D-2
F1+
-
A-1+
D-3
F1+
-
A-1+
H
F1+
-
A-1+
H-2
F1
-
A-1
J-1
F1+
-
A-1+
K
F1
-
A-1
K-2
F1
-
A-1

Bond Ratings

As of May 24, 2023, the bond rating services of the County, Flood Control District, and Toll Road are as follows:
Entity
Fitch
Moody's
S&P
KBRA
County
AAA
Aaa
AAA
AAA
Flood Control District
AAA
Aaa
AAA
AAA
Toll Road
AA
Aa1
AA-
Toll Road - First Lien
AA
Aa2
*Moody’s continuously monitors CP ratings. Rating is changed when the rating on the supporting instrument is changed.

Obligations rated AAA for long-term debt and F1+ for short-term debt by Fitch Ratings are used to denote the lowest expectation of default risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events.

Obligations rated Aaa for long-term debt and P-1 for short-term debt by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. are defined as having the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk.

Obligations rated AAA for long-term debt and A-1+ for short-term debt by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service are the highest rating assigned by Standard & Poor’s. This rating indicates the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitments on the obligation are extremely strong.

Obligations rated AAA for long-term debt by Kroll Bond Rating Agency’s are determined to have almost no risk of loss due to credit-related events. They are assigned only to the very highest quality obligors and obligations able to survive extremely challenging economic events.

Total Outstanding Debt Obligations

As of September 30, 2023, the total outstanding debt obligations for the County are as follows:
Fiscal Year 2023
Per Capita
General Obligation Bonds
$2,857,851,318
$592.11
Revenue Supported Bonds
$2,128,535,000
$441.01
Total Outstanding Debt Obligations
$4,986,386,318
$1,033.12
*Per Capita figures are based on the County's 2023 estimated population of 4,826,539
Total lease-purchase or lease-revenue obligations are not applicable to Harris County

Harris County Tax-Supported and Revenue-Supported Debt, FY 2019 - FY 2023

Harris County Inflation Adjusted Tax-Supported Debt Per Capita, Fiscal Year 2019-2023

Additional Debt Information
  • Outstanding Debt Obligations Issue-by-Issue as of 9/30/2023
  • Time Trend Showing Total Outstanding Tax Supported and Revenue Supported Debt for Last 5 years
  • Historical Bond Election Information
  • Harris County Debt Report FY 2023
Adopted Budget Debt Info
  • FY 2023
  • SFY 2022
  • FY 2022
  • FY 2021
  • FY 2020
  • FY 2019
.