Florida bond debt drops $500M

Florida's bond debt decreased $500 million over the past year to $27.7 billion, a report from The News Service of Florida shows.

Officials say the 2% decline is the state's first bond debt decrease in at least 20 years.

The state borrowed $900 million over the past year, but also paid down $1.4 billion in debt, resulting in the $500 million net decrease, according to Ben Watkins, director of the Division of Bond Finance.

Officials attribute the net bond debt decrease to two main initiatives: reduced borrowing to support the Florida Forever land-purchasing program, and Gov. Rick Scott's veto of more than $100 million in new college construction projects.

Florida has also recently benefitted from interest savings on the refinancing of roughly $2 billion of its outstanding debt, reducing future payments by $270 million.

But focusing on the state's bond debt ignores a major piece of Florida's indebtedness picture: Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state's public property insurance entity, has borrowed roughly $16 billion to cover future claims.