Report Blames Pensions,Debts For Squeezing Municipal Budgets

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Paul Tuthill

Published January 7, 2014 at 12:17 PM EST

15,000 municipal jobs have been eliminated in Massachusetts since 2007. The state’s cities and towns have cut the total workforce by 6 percent. In a new report released this morning, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says municipalities are in a financial squeeze because of rising pension costs and increased debt. WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with taxpayer’s foundation president Michael Widmer.

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The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.

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