The expense ratio is taken out before the distribution is calculated.
Some of the fee BTW is interest because the fund borrows money and is somewhat leveraged. This is pretty normal for bond funds but I think you can find ones that don’t that pay a lower amount.
The distribution amount in these funds doesn’t change much year to year.
The very long trend is toward lower amounts simply because interest rates are falling. But you can pretty safely assume if you buy now it will pay ~4% for 10 years.
The fee is on the high side, even with the interest subtracted. I have looked into direct buying of munis, but not quite worth the hassle IMO.
