Baltimore reports preliminary FY25 general fund close: small net deficit after timing issue with school payment

Baltimore City budget officials told the City Council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee on the quarterly briefing that preliminary, unaudited FY25 results show the general fund closed with a $3,300,000 deficit after year‑end revenues exceeded budget by about $66,600,000 and expenditures exceeded budget by about $69,900,000. "I am here to present the preliminary and unaudited results for the city's general fund for the fiscal year that ended on June 2025," said Laura Larson, the city's budget director.

The deficit is concentrated in a handful of large expenditure items and a timing issue for a prior‑year payment to Baltimore City Public Schools, Larson said. "If we exclude the issue regarding the timing of the payment for city schools, the city's general fund actually ended the year with a $13,300,000 surplus," Larson said, adding that the prior‑year schools payment will be funded from the FY24 fund balance that lapsed to fund balance.

Why it matters: the briefing lays out which revenues and spending items produced the variances that will drive supplemental appropriations this fall. Larson said income tax receipts and stronger property and transfer/recordation taxes…