Baltimore City sells $100.77 million in 2025 GO bonds; city terminates 2013 forward delivery agreement

Baltimore City Treasury told the Board of Finance that the city competitively sold its 2025 general obligation (GO) bonds, pricing the sale on July 23 and closing on Aug. 6, 2025. Treasury reported a combined par amount of $100,770,000 across the 2025A and 2025B series; JPMorgan Securities was the winning bidder for the 2025A series and Wells Fargo for the 2025B series.

Treasury said bond proceeds will finance various public improvements and pay issuance costs; the first interest payment on the bonds is due Oct. 15, 2025. Treasury reported aggregated issuance metrics in the meeting, including the combined true interest cost and debt service estimates presented by staff. The transcript records a combined true interest cost reported as 3.67% and an aggregate debt service figure discussed by staff; supporting details such as premium and certain line items in the transcript contained wording that was not numerically consistent in the public remarks and therefore were not restated beyond the par amount and the true interest cost.

Separately, Treasury informed the board that the city terminated a forward delivery agreement associated with the partial refunding of its 2013 bonds. Treasury said the agreement — originally between Wells Fargo, M&T and the city — was terminated on Aug. 1, 2025 after the last affected maturities were paid and the escrow account no longer required funding; any residual proceeds were to be applied to the 2020B refunding bonds.

Treasury presented the bond sale and the termination as informational updates; the board did not take a new vote on either informational item during the meeting.