Maryland

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Monday announced the first of a series of fiscal reforms designed to head off a financial nightmare that a recent projection suggested could be heading the city's way.

After falling less than the national bond market in 2011, the Northeast bounced back less than that market in 2012.

Baltimore is setting a precedent by being the first large city to use long-term forecasting to avoid becoming the next bankruptcy story, city officials and their advisors said Thursday.

A ten-year forecast commissioned by the mayor and released Wednesday reveals that Baltimore could be on a path to bankruptcy without "serious fiscal reforms."

Prince George's County, Md. will sell more than $300 million of highly-rated tax-exempt debt Tuesday, as the county seeks to benefit from low interest rates with both new money and refunding bonds.

A plan released by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority details $6 billion of investment the nation's second-busiest subway system needs to make over the next 12 years, and stresses the need for new revenue to support it.

The impacts of property tax caps in the Eastern U.S. states are mixed, ranging from minimal to restrictive, according to a recent report from Standard & Poor's.

The Maryland Capital Debt Affordability Committee approved Gov. Martin O'Malley's request for $150 million more bond authority despite the criticism of Comptroller Peter Franchot.

Several Maryland state legislators are pushing for a constitutional amendment allowing the state to put transportation packages and their related bonds on statewide ballots.

Maryland will issue $653 million in tax-exempt and taxable debt, including over $15 million of direct-pay qualified zone academy bonds Aug. 1. Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp expects a good result just weeks after the state's triple-A rating was reaffirmed by all three credit agencies.

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the sale of $790.3 million of general obligation bonds. The bonds will be sold in five series and finance a variety of capital projects, such as schools and hospitals.

WASHINGTON — Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley hailed the budget he signed into law last week as a way to secure the state’s triple-A bond rating, but a new Moody’s Investors Service report warned the new budget could hurt the credits of more than 20 municipalities.

Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp has been a force on her state's political scene for decades, but the veteran politician doesn't mince words when it comes to the negative outlook a major rating agency has put on the Old Line State's triple-A credit rating.

WASHINGTON — Virginia won applause from Moody's Investors Service this week following an overhaul of its pension system, but neighboring Maryland received flak as the credit rating agency warned its proposed budget cuts could harm the credit of local governments.

WASHINGTON — The Maryland Transportation Authority will price more than $260 million of tax-exempt bonds to refund 2002 bonds and to finance a passenger walkway and tunnel for the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, according to bond documents released Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Maryland issued $738.4 million of general obligation bonds this week, achieving its second-lowest interest rate since 1988, according to Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp.

WASHINGTON — With most of the state's revenue spoken for and few options left for raising more, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Wednesday that he will introduce a proposal to repeal a sales tax exemption on gasoline as part of a larger plan to inject money into transportation infrastructure and create jobs.

WASHINGTON — Increased reliance on public-private partnerships to fund construction of roads, rail, water, sewers, public buildings and other projects could save Maryland millions of dollars annually and create thousands of jobs, according to a state legislative commission report.

WASHINGTON — The Maryland Transportation Authority is proposing its first statewide toll increases to generate more revenue to back bonds that were issued for two major highway projects and for rehabilitating aging infrastructure.

WASHINGTON — Maryland lawmakers are considering a 10-cent-per-gallon increase to the state’s 23.5-cent gas tax, but the government may not be able to use the potential revenue increase to back bonds for transportation projects because there is limited room under its debt cap.