Municipal Governments' Non-Debt Debt Account For Two-Thirds Of All Borrowing

From City Journal, "Detroit’s Message to Investors: There will be blood." by Steven Malanga:

Though most states have laws or constitutional restrictions on borrowing, governments (and their financial advisors) have found ways to sidestep them. At least two-thirds of all municipal borrowing in the $3.5 trillion market now takes place outside the scope of debt limits, according to an estimate by Columbia University law professor Richard Briffault. He calls these transactions “non-debt debt.” In 2009, in one example, Arizona closed a budget gap by borrowing $1 billion, even though its constitution prohibits such debt. The state simply claimed that the transaction wasn’t borrowing but instead a sale of government-owned office buildings. Yet no real sale took place: the state retained control of the properties and instead sold certificates of participation for them. Arizona is repaying the certificate holders out of tax revenues but calling the payments “rent” (see “State Budget Bunk,” Winter 2011). The Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based think tank, estimated that Arizona will spend $1.6 billion to pay off the $1 billion sham sale.