Boston, with a new debt issuance approaching, has rolled out a new investor website,
The website is designed to drive investment in Boston's debt, which helps pay for capital projects and other city investments. It features nearly 6,000 pages of data and documents,
"The breath of infomation is pretty astounding, from my perspective," said Drew Smith, the city's senior deputy treasurer, a former debt management official at the Massachusetts Treasury.
Boston officials contracted with BondLink, whose chief executive is Colin MacNaught, the commonwealth's former deputy treasurer for debt management. The Seaport District company powers similar programs for other issuers, including California, Chicago and the University of Texas.
"Our goal with Boston is to open up its bond sales so that more investors can participate and support the city's infrastructure investments," said MacNaught.
The city intends to sell roughly $150 million to $170 million competitively around May 10. City officials expect the sale to parallel past bond deals.
"Boston has a relatively conservative debt profile and it reflects in our triple-A ratings," said Smith. Amortization of 70% in the first 10 years and 40% in the first five appeal to the capital markets, he added. "Investors like to see that."
S&P Global Ratings and Moody's Investors Service both rate the city's general obligation bonds triple-A. New ratings and a preliminary official statement are due out before the May sale.
Boston has held triple-A ratings the past three years. The 673,000-population city has about $1.23 billion of bonds outstanding, according to the website.
Mayor Martin Walsh earlier this month submitted a $3.3 billion fiscal 2019
Over the past five years, Boston's revenue has risen by 25%, and employers in the city have added 80,000 new jobs over the last four years. Walsh, who began his second four-year term in January, said in his budget message that fiscal discipline has enabled the city to continue providing "critical, quality services" despite gaps in federal and state funding,
"The Walsh administration has really placed a priority in strong financial management," said Emme Handy, the city's chief financial officer.
