This is a MuniPro demonstration of a redesigned Texas Bond Review Board website. It is not the official BRB site: nothing filed here reaches BRB, and the email addresses shown are BRB's own. The official site is brb.texas.gov.

Local Government Debt

What BRB does with local government debt, the databases and reports it publishes, and the forms local governments file.

BRB's role

BRB does not approve local government debt issuance.

One of the agency's goals is that public officials can get current information on debt issuance, finance and debt management.

BRB provides statistics on the bonds and other debt obligations that local governments issue. The local governments are cities, community and junior colleges, counties, health and hospital districts, independent school districts, water districts and other special districts.

Where the data comes from

BRB has access to bond transcript information from the Public Finance Division of the Attorney General's Office and from the Comptroller of Public Accounts.

BRB also requires various data on bonds and other debt obligations that local governments issue. The authority is Texas Government Code, Title 9, Public Securities, Chapter 1202.008.

BRB compiles the local government data and shows it on its website.

Search and download

Search a database that shows local government debt outstanding issue by issue, at a snapshot in time. The snapshot is the fiscal year end, as of 8/31.

The Local Publications page links to local debt data on the Texas Open Data Portal. You can download a spreadsheet of debt outstanding by issuer, with debt ratios, population numbers, tax rates and assessed values.

The local debt annual report is also on the Local Publications page.

Databases on BRB's searchable database page

BRB's Searchable Databases page lists these databases.

  • State Debt Outstanding
  • Local Debt Outstanding
  • Local Bond Elections
  • State Debt Issuance Fees
  • Local Debt Issuance Fees
  • Local Debt Issuance

Local debt at a glance, fiscal year 2025

These totals come from the BRB Data Center. The state fiscal year runs from September 1 until August 31. BRB's 2025 Local Annual Report gives $368.30 billion for the same date (page 5). The report and the Data Center are compiled differently and BRB does not say why they differ; this site shows the Data Center figure.

BRB sorts local government debt into seven categories: Cities, Towns, Villages (Cities); Public School Districts (School Districts); Water Districts and Authorities (WD); Counties; Other Special Districts and Authorities (OSD); Community and Junior Colleges (CCD); and Health/Hospital Districts and Authorities (HHD).

School districts and cities hold about 71 percent of local government debt outstanding ($259.7 billion of $365.5 billion at the end of fiscal year 2025), per the Data Center class pages.

  • Debt outstanding: tax supported $256,421,089,736; revenue supported $109,079,206,288; total $365,500,296,024.
  • Debt issued: tax supported $47,245,737,332; revenue supported $14,687,351,000; total $61,933,088,332.

Reports and forms local governments file

Local governments file HB 3526 reports on bond elections and unissued bonds.

Some local governments also complete the Local Debt Additional Transcript Requirements (ATR) Form before closing.

Questions

Send questions or comments to Local Debt Analysts.

Content from BRB's pages, captured 2026-10-03: https://www.brb.texas.gov/local-government-services/; https://www.brb.texas.gov/debt/; https://brb.texas.gov/searchable-db.html#/home; https://data.brb.texas.gov/local/