After several days' delay for no apparent reason, the State of Oregon has released the final pricing numbers on that $229 million of new loans that it took out last week. The yields on the bonds ranged from 1.29% on $7.2 million of double-tax-exempt payable in May 2010, to 5.435% on $435,000 of federally taxable, state-exempt bonds due in 2023.

As noted here last week, long-term double-tax-exempt issues bore some hefty yields. $16 million due in 2029 (20 years from now) will pay 5%; $19.1 million due in 2033 (24 years from now) will yield 5.125%; and $21.5 million due in 2039 (30 years from now) will yield 5.27%. Quite a nice return for the fat cats -- and not so good news for future taxpayers.

Ah, but why stop there? The state has announced that it will be borrowing another $147 million in a couple of weeks for college dorms and instructional facilities, and another $350 million the week after that for road and bridge modernization. That will make $726 million in new borrowing in less than a month -- quite a credit card bender.

Meanwhile, here's a story that confirms the sometimes shadowy nature of public finance. Money gets borrowed for a specified purpose, but then sits around unspent. That could never happen around Portland -- could it?