FAQ

Municipal bonds (“muni bonds”) are debt securities issued by state and local governments, or their authorized agencies, to borrow or raise money for public purposes such as building schools, highways, or hospitals. When you purchase a municipal bond, you lend money to the “issuer” (i.e., the government entity that issued the bond), which, in turn, pays a set amount of interest while you hold the bond and returns your principal investment on a specified maturity date.

Credit rating agencies assign credit ratings based on their analysis of an issuer’s ability to make interest payments and repay principal in a timely manner.

Bonds rated BBB or Baa, or better, are characterized as “investment grade,” meaning that they have a high probability of being repaid and have few speculative features.

See City of Saint Paul, Minnesota General Obligation Bonds, Series 2023D, pg. A-5.

The adopted debt service budget for 2023 is $83,023,982.

The Debt Service Fund reports a subtotal of $83,023,982. After subtracting intra fund transfers of $5,430,930, the annual debt service budget totals $77,593,053.

For more information, please see the 2023 Adopted Budget, pg. 3.