Why not just borrow the money, or use a bond?
There are laws in all 50 states that generally make it impossible for state, county & municipal governments to incur new debt requiring payments that extend over multi-year (budget) periods. The primary concern being that until those future budgets are formally approved and voted into law, there is no legal authority to bind the government entity to make future payments. The only exceptions are bond issues (general obligations) which are the primary vehicles used to bind a government entities to a stream of future payments. “General Obligation” bonds are contractual commitments to make repayments. The government bond issuer is guaranteeing to make funds available for repayment including raising taxes as necessary, if adequate sums are not available in the general fund. “Revenue” bond repayments are tied directly to specific streams of tax revenue. Bond issues are very complicated legal documents (read: expensive, time consuming) and because they can have a direct impact on every taxpay
