Municipalities Face Dire Fiscal Outlook

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has released its annual report on the state of municipal finance, and the numbers don't look good. They say Massachusetts towns and cities have shed more than 15-thousand jobs since 2007, or six-percent of the municipal workforce. The cost of pensions, health care, and debt service has skyrocketed over the past five years. The report says towns and cities in Massachusetts face 30-billion in unfunded liabilities for retiree health care alone.