Arizona cities and agencies continue debt-cutting trend

The federal government might have a spiraling debt crisis, but Arizona’s cities, counties and state agencies are going in the other direction.

The total debt incurred by Arizona’s public-sector entities stood at $36.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2017 last June 30, down from $42.2 billion one year earlier.

Last year’s combined debt total was the lowest since 2008 and the first drop under $40 billion since then.It was also the third straight year of declining debt, though the two previous decreases were small.

Public sector indebtedness had jumped from $33 billion in 2007 to $44 billion in 2011 before leveling off.

Those and other figures were compiled in an annual report prepared by D. Clark Partridge, the state’s comptroller within the Department of Administration.

The report relied on unaudited debt figures submitted by 892 cities, counties, school districts and other public entities around the state.

The five borrowers with the most debt were:

❚ Phoenix, $5.79 billion

❚ Salt River Project, $4.1 billion ❚ The Arizona Department of Transportation, $2.25 billion ❚ Mesa, $1.72 billion ❚ Arizona State University, $1.66 billion

The 10 biggest borrowers accounted for more than half of all debt incurred by public sector entities in Arizona.