Welcome. Thank you for visiting Buy Maryland Bonds.

On September 13, 2011, the State offered first priority to Maryland residents in the sale of the 2011 Second Series E Refunding General Obligation Bonds. The State expects to again offer first priority of general obligation bonds in late February 2012.  Please continue to visit www.buymarylandbonds.com for further updates.

If you are interested in these bonds, you may want to know what Maryland does with the proceeds from the bond sale, the security for these bonds and the bond ratings.  Maryland does not use general obligation bond proceeds to close budget gaps or to fix cash flow problems.  You can see what these bonds finance as you drive throughout the State and see the construction of State facilities; the construction by local governments of public schools, community colleges, and jails and correctional facilities; and the construction of hospitals, cultural and other projects.  In fact, since 2007 Maryland has used more than 60% of the proceeds of its general obligation bonds to finance the construction of public schools and higher education facilities in the State.  I believe that these investments in education have contributed to the 2011 recognition of Maryland's public education system as the highest ranking in the country by Education Week for the third straight year.

Maryland’s general obligation bonds are secured by the full faith and credit of the State.  At least since the end of the Civil War, the State has paid the principal and interest on its general obligation bonds when due.  Maryland’s general obligation bonds also have the highest possible credit ratings.  On September 7 and September 8, 2011, Moody's Investors Service, Standards & Poor's and Fitch Ratings affirmed the ratings of Aaa/AAA/AAA.   

Following the August 2, 2011, confirmation of the U.S. Aaa sovereign rating, Moody’s, on August 4, 2011, confirmed the Aaa ratings of Maryland and the four other states. At the same time, they stated: “In conjunction with assignment of a negative outlook (to) the U.S. government, the outlooks for indirectly linked U.S. public finance issuers (including Maryland) have been revised to negative… (and) …their outlooks will be reviewed on a case by case basis in the coming weeks.” The complete August 4, 2011, press release is available at: http://www.moodys.com/research/Correction-to-Text-Aug-4-2011-Moodys-confirms-Aaa-ratings?lang=en&cy=global&docid=PR_224016
The content of such release is maintained solely by Moody's and the State assumes no responsibility for the content or continued availability thereof.

The State Treasurer’s Office has been and will continue to be in contact with all three rating agencies to emphasize the qualitative evaluation factors that should be considered by the rating agencies (e.g., a history of prudent financial management, a highly educated workforce, a strong, diverse economy, a Constitutionally dedicated tax for bond debt service and a fiscal condition that is better than most states.) while they assess the impact of federal government actions. This website will be updated for any rating changes or announcements.

Thank you again for learning about Maryland’s general obligation bonds.  To learn about future sales, periodically visit this site.  In addition, other Maryland bond issuers may offer bonds in the interim.  To see prospective sales dates, there is a Maryland bond sale calendar you can access  here.

Continuing financial information for the State of Maryland general obligation bonds is available at http://www.treasurer.state.md.us/debtmanagement/continuing-disclosure.aspx and at http://emma.msrb.org, where market activity related to the bonds may also be found.  General information on municipal bonds can be accessed at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's Education Center, http://emma.msrb.org/EducationCenter/EducationCenter.aspx