Backed by a broad coalition of business, civic, and education organizations, on April 26 the House took bold action to provide desperately needed fiscal relief to cities and towns by giving municipal leaders the same flexibility as the state to...

On April 25, MTF President Michael Widmer presented the MBTA’s financial status at a meeting organized by A Better City. With a growing operating deficit, massive debt, and faltering infrastructure, the T faces major fiscal challenges in the upcoming...

Testimony of Michael J. Widmer President, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation Before the Joint Committee on Public Service In Support of the Governor’s Pension Reform Proposal

To supplement our report on retiree health care liabilities, the Foundation is in the process of collecting such data for all cities and towns in Massachusetts. This spreadsheet includes new data from 50 additional municipalities, along with updated...

To supplement our report on retiree health care liabilities, the Foundation is in the process of collecting such data for all cities and towns in Massachusetts. This spreadsheet includes new data from 50 additional municipalities, along with updated...

Municipal employee health care plans in Massachusetts are far more costly and generous than other employer-sponsored plans in the Commonwealth, according to Municipal Health Plans: Gilded Benefits from a Bygone Era, a new report released today by The...

The 50 largest cities and towns in Massachusetts face a crushing $20 billion liability for retiree health care benefits that threatens to wreak havoc with local government services, according to a new report released today by the Massachusetts...

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation supports the pension reform proposals advanced today by Governor Patrick with Senate President Murray, House Speaker DeLeo and Treasurer-elect Grossman. Unlike the 2009 and 2010 legislation which simply closed...

In our zeal to “reform’’ the Probation Department, let’s not shackle the agency with a system that will ensure mediocrity into the indefinite future.

Municipalities weathered one of their most difficult years in the Proposition 2 ½ era in fiscal 2010, highlighting the urgency of controlling municipal health insurance costs. Driven by cuts in local aid and declines in local receipts and new...