Major Trends in Local Finance Municipal revenues and expenditures increased by 5.7 percent ($1.8 billion) from fiscal year (FY) 2021 to FY 2022; the highest rate of growth since FY 2007. The strong rate of growth in FY 2022 is partially the residue...

MTF has released the 49th Edition of the Municipal Financial Data pamphlet, an annual publication that summarizes key financial issues for the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts for fiscal 2019 including an overview of major revenue and spending...

Cities and towns are facing a combination of higher property taxes and employee layoffs as a result of cuts in state aid, according to the Foundation's 34th annual analysis of local revenues and spending. Although the 2005 state budget provides...

In order to help address the "relentless squeeze" on municipal finances in Massachusetts, the state should dedicate 40 percent of tax revenues to local aid and develop a new system for benchmarking local costs, according to the Foundation's 35th...

The overall municipal financial picture stabilized in 2006. Nevertheless, most communities continue to face a fiscal squeeze as underlying costs grow faster than revenues, according to the Foundation's 36th annual analysis of local revenues and...

Driven by the global economic problems and the state's fiscal crisis, cities and towns are about to enter another period of cutbacks and serious retrenchment.Major cuts in state aid to local communities are virtually certain to take place in fiscal...

The Foundation released its 43rd annual report on municipal finances concluding that despite a modest rebound in revenues, municipalities find themselves in a long-term budget squeeze because the costs for pensions, employee and retiree health care,...

Municipal revenues and expenditures grew by just 2.7 percent to $22.6 billion in fiscal 2012, leaving Massachusetts cities and towns in the midst of a three-year slowdown that is unprecedented in the Proposition 2 ½ era, according to the...