Waste Management 2008 Annual Report Download - page 80
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Please find page 80 of the 2008 Waste Management annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.Summary of Cash, Short-Term Investments, Restricted Trust and Escrow Accounts and Debt Obligations
The following is a summary of our cash, short-term investments available for use, restricted trust and escrow
accounts and debt balances as of December 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007 (in millions):
2008 2007
Cash and cash equivalents.......................................... $ 480 $ 348
Restricted trust and escrow accounts:
Tax-exempt bond funds .......................................... $ 123 $ 117
Closure, post-closure and environmental remediation funds ............... 213 231
Debt service funds ............................................. 35 47
Other ....................................................... 10 23
Total restricted trust and escrow accounts........................... $ 381 $ 418
Debt:
Current portion ................................................ $ 835 $ 329
Long-term portion.............................................. 7,491 8,008
Total debt .................................................. $8,326 $8,337
Increase in carrying value of debt due to hedge accounting for interest rate
swaps ....................................................... $ 150 $ 72
Cash and cash equivalents — Cash and cash equivalents consist primarily of cash on deposit and money
market funds that invest in United States government obligations, all of which have original maturities of three
months or less.
Restricted trust and escrow accounts — Restricted trust and escrow accounts consist primarily of funds held in
trust for the construction of various facilities or repayment of our debt obligations, funds deposited for purposes of
settling landfill closure, post-closure and environmental remediation obligations and insurance escrow deposits.
These balances are primarily included within long-term “Other assets” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets. See
Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional discussion.
Debt — We use long-term borrowings in addition to the cash we generate from operations as part of our overall
financial strategy to support and grow our business. We primarily use senior notes and tax-exempt bonds to borrow
on a long-term basis, but also use other instruments and facilities when appropriate. The components of our long-
term borrowings as of December 31, 2008 are described in Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Changes in our outstanding debt balances from December 31, 2007 to December 31, 2008 can primarily be
attributed to (i) net debt repayments of $260 million; (ii) non-cash proceeds from tax-exempt borrowings, net of
principal payments made directly from trust funds of $169 million; (iii) a $78 million increase in the carrying value
of our debt due to hedge accounting for interest rate swaps; and (iv) the impacts of accounting for other non-cash
changes in our balances due to foreign currency translation, interest and capital leases.
We have approximately $1.2 billion of scheduled debt maturities during the next twelve months. We have
classified approximately $509 million of these borrowings as long-term as of December 31, 2008 based on our
intent and ability to refinance these borrowings on a long-term basis.
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