New Jersey's bonded debt is approaching $50 billion, including the $3.7 billion the state borrowed in November when it thought COVID would wreck its revenues.
The state's emergency COVID borrowing cannot be repaid early, but Treasury Department says it makes more sense to repay other debt with higher interest rates.
After interest-only payments are made in 2021 and 2022, yearly payments are expected to be slightly more than $500 million for the 10 years that follow.
To make up for projected declines in revenue projections, the 2021 state operating budget is balanced in part through $4.5 billion in general obligation bonds.