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County treasurer tells finance committee net funded debt is $424 million; debt ratio well under 15% threshold
Summary
Finance Director Diane Nakagawa and Treasurer Chris O'Connell presented the county's annual statement of funded debt, showing a net funded debt of about $424,000,000 after exclusions. Officials said the county's issued-debt percentage is 7.99% and would rise to about 13.88% if all authorized bonds were issued, below a 15% benchmark.
Finance Director Diane Nakagawa and County Treasurer Chris O'Connell briefed the Hawaii County Council Committee on Finance Aug. 6 on the statutorily required statement of funded debt as of June 30, 2024.
Nakagawa walked members through the summary table and schedules: the county holds general-obligation bonds, state revolving loan funds and revenue bonds as principal categories. She said the schedules show principal totals (including general obligation bonds listed at roughly $430,000,000 in the schedule), and that after subtracting current-year maturities and other exclusions the net funded debt reported on the statement is $424,000,000.
Nakagawa told the committee that the county's issued-debt percentage stands at about 7.99 percent of the benchmark used in budget discussions; if the county issued all bonds currently authorized, the ratio would rise to about 13.88 percent, still short of a commonly cited 15 percent cautionary threshold. Treasurer Chris O'Connell said the county follows the legal debt-service schedule to pay bondholders and has refinanced debt in the past (noting a refinancing in 2016) but has not done so recently.
Councilmembers asked whether the county could make additional principal prepayments; O'Connell said the county generally follows the scheduled payments but could consider prepayments in some cases. Members also asked how the county's standing compares to last year; Nakagawa said net funded debt has declined compared with the 2023 statement because the county has paid down debt since issuing new authorizations.
Members requested additional ordinance references and a memo tying issue dates to the ordinance numbers authorizing the bonds for easier tracking; staff said they would try to provide that material in a follow-up memo to be filed with the communication.
The committee closed the file on Communication 947 by voice vote and recorded the presentation for the record.
