When Johnston County, NC, first adopted DebtBook, the goal was to address the growing complexity of its debt portfolio and the increasing burden of continuing disclosure filings. With debt spanning across 15 water and sewer districts, as well as the county’s own debt, their financial team faced mounting challenges managing disclosures manually.
As Deputy Finance Director for Compliance and Debt, Martha Lasater, neared retirement, the importance of future-proofing the organization became even more critical. With Martha solely responsible for managing the county’s debt and disclosure processes, Johnston County recognized the need for a solution that would centralize these responsibilities, ensuring that her successor could seamlessly take over.
By centralizing their processes and ensuring compliance, DebtBook’s Debt Management solution has helped how the county manages its continuing disclosure obligations, while also improving overall debt management.
The Background
Johnston County, located in the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, is part of a region with a growing population, estimated at 241,049 in 2023. As the county expanded, so did its debt portfolio, and with it came more complex continuing disclosure requirements.
Johnston County's debt is spread across multiple funds and 15 water and sewer districts, each with its own reporting requirements. This created layers of complexity, especially when manually managing these obligations through spreadsheets.
“Earlier in my career at the State Treasurer’s Office, I encountered a lot of different software, but it was always designed for issuing debt, not for the issuer.” Martha Lasater, Deputy Finance Director for Compliance and Debt at Johnston County, NC
“Before we had DebtBook, we relied on a variety of spreadsheets, which made things really challenging. Besides managing the county’s debt across four funds, one of those funds includes 15 water and sewer districts. Each of those 15 districts has both general obligation debt and installment financing debt. Managing both the district and county debt in separate spreadsheets was incredibly difficult and time-consuming," Martha explained.
To add another layer of complexity, in 2013 and 2014, the county refinanced a significant portion of the districts’ debt and acquired it. As a result, much of the districts’ debt is now owed to the county, creating numerous interconnections between the two.
“At times we needed debt for one district. Then other times we needed it for all the districts altogether. So it was just a constant manipulation of spreadsheets.”
As the primary person responsible for managing the county’s debt and continuing disclosure filings, Martha was solely in charge of updating information, filing reports, and ensuring compliance. This manual process posed significant risks, especially with her approaching retirement.
“The risk of me being the only one responsible for all this information is clear—if something happened to me, or when I retire, no one else would have access to it. That’s just the reality.” - Martha Lasater
The Challenge
Over time, Johnston County’s debt filings became increasingly complex.
“As the debt manager, it’s been my responsibility to handle all the filings, and that task has grown significantly over time. Initially, we were mainly focused on county general obligation and limited obligation debt, but we eventually had to add disclosures for all the districts, in addition to the existing general obligation and limited obligation bond filings. In 2021, we established a water and sewer revenue bond master trust indenture, and since then, we’ve issued three water and sewer system revenue bonds,” Martha explained.
The growing complexity, combined with Martha’s sole responsibility for filings, created a risky situation. In the event of missed filings, the county would need to disclose errors and omissions publicly, which could damage their reputation and relationship with underwriters.
“When it comes to missing a filing, you’re required to disclose it in public documents, like the final or preliminary official statements. If a filing is missed, you’re essentially forced to admit it.”
The Solution
To address these challenges, Johnston County turned to DebtBook to centralize its debt management and streamline its continuing disclosure processes. With DebtBook’s Debt Management solution, all debt-related information—spanning both the county and its districts—was uploaded and organized for easy access and reporting.
Martha found the transition to DebtBook to be especially helpful:
“With DebtBook, managing our debt has become much easier. For example, we have two county limited obligation issues where district debt was refunded, which meant it was almost like being counted twice—once in the districts and again in the county. Now, with DebtBook, I can drill down into the detailed allocations and easily see which district is responsible for each portion of a payment.”
DebtBook also helped Martha prepare for her upcoming retirement by ensuring continuity. “It was just me managing everything. We’re a very small staff, and because of my background and knowledge, all the filings were stored with me. No one else had access or was familiar with the process."
"When DebtBook added the disclosure module, it was one of the first features I tried. Having a centralized place to store that information was crucial, as past filings were either on my computer or in a cabinet where I kept hard copies.”
DebtBook’s automation also streamlined reporting for frequently asked questions, such as the portion of debt related to schools.
“One of the most frequent questions we get is, ‘How much of our debt is related to schools?’ Before DebtBook, I had to manually go through spreadsheets, find the allocations for each issue, and calculate the school-related amounts. Now, I can simply go into DebtBook, click on the purpose, and instantly see the breakdown by general obligation debt, by limited obligation bonds, or even combined. It’s made a huge difference in how we handle reporting,” Martha shared.
The Impact
DebtBook has brought immediate improvements to Johnston County’s continuing disclosure and debt management processes. The centralization of data and automation has not only reduced the workload but also eliminated the risk of missed filings and ensured transparency across the organization.
“Having templates for each part of the continuing disclosure process in the application is incredibly beneficial. The templates I use are in DebtBook, so if something were to happen to me, my team would have easy access to them. I also think the centralized storage is invaluable. All the past filings are in one place now, which is a huge improvement,” Martha said.
As Martha prepares for retirement, her successor, Kathy Kyle, feels confident about the transition.
“Just knowing that the information is there and I won't have to go back to file cabinets and spreadsheets is reassuring. DebtBook will also make the reporting and tracking requirements so much easier.” Kathy Kyle, Senior Accountant
DebtBook’s automation and storage capabilities have brought Johnston County’s debt management into the modern era, allowing the team to focus on strategic decisions instead of manual data entry. This shift not only enhances current operations but also future-proofs the organization by ensuring that vital information is centralized and easily accessible for Martha’s successor and future finance staff.
“It’s hard to single out one benefit, but I’d say it’s the automation and doing away with spreadsheets that has made work so much easier.” Martha concluded.
