Cities must adapt and evolve in the face of changing economic and fiscal pressures, meeting new challenges as they arise. Baltimore City addresses many of these challenges through the annual budget process, which is led by the Bureau of the Budget and Management Research (BBMR). However, setting the City on a strong fiscal path requires forward-looking financial planning that ensures a balanced budget while enabling strategic investments that spur future growth.

The City released its first 10-Year Financial Plan, Change to Grow — A 10-Year Financial Plan for Baltimore, in 2013. Change to Grow helped guide the City through the post-Great Recession recovery and led to significant successes. While in many ways the City’s finances today are in better shape than they were in 2013, thanks in large part to the success of Change to Grow, the City faces similar and new financial challenges. In 2025, the City released the second plan, Securing Baltimore’s Future: A 10-Year Financial Plan for Baltimore.

Securing Baltimore’s Future lays out a set of actions and investments that, if implemented over the next decade, will achieve a sustainably balanced budget while fostering long-term population growth and community vitality. The Plan is built around cornerstones, which are comprised of different initiatives that will achieve the overarching goals of the Plan, as well as measures of success that allow the City to assess progress in these areas.

For Securing Baltimore’s Future details and documents, visit the official website .

For Change to Grow documents, please download the zip file.