Despite a government-lockdown-driven COVID recession, Oregon's Treasurer is projecting strong general fund and lottery revenues over the next nine-year period. It's not known how dependent these revenue projections are on the influx of federal money. According to the report from the State Debt Policy Advisory Commission, the December revenue forecast permits the issuance of $1.139 billion general fund backed debt in 2019-21 biennium.

Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read said in a letter to Governor Brown and the Legislature, "In addition to the human costs, the pandemic has dramatically affected our economy, leading to financial uncertainty and commensurate challenges to the State’s budget in both the current and upcoming biennia. This makes long-term funding plans more difficult for important State and local government capital projects."

The debt capacity has a target of using 5% or less of state revenue to do debt service, and at that rate, the state will be able to issue over a billion dollars in debt during the next biennium.

Treasurer Read points out the uncertainty in the economy as well as the uncertainty of federal aid. "For these reasons, we continue to advise caution and patience when planning for capital projects," Read added.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-12-14 21:18:19

Last Update: 2020-12-14 22:09:40