At the end of the fiscal year 2022, 53 cities did not have enough money to pay all of their bills.
This year's report highlights the volatility and risk surrounding pension plan assets and corresponding pension liabilities.
Truth in Accounting has released its sixth annual Financial State of the Cities report.
Despite receiving federal assistance from the CARES Act and other COVID-19 related grants, the majority of cities’ finances worsened. Total debt among the 75 largest U.S. cities amounted to $357 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2020, which was $23.5 billion worse than the last fiscal year.
Truth in Accounting has released a new analysis of the 10 most populous U.S. cities that includes their largest underlying government units.
The 2021 Financial State of the Cities (FSOC) surveys the fiscal health of the 75 largest municipalities in the United States. This data is released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.
Our fifth annual Financial State of the Cities report. This analysis surveys the fiscal health of the 75 most populated US cities prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Truth in Accounting has released a new report on the 10 largest U.S. cities. The City Combined Taxpayer Burden report analyzes the finances of each city, its county, state, and underlying government units.
Includes "Pension debt is similar to credit card debt, not a mortgage, because it is debt accumulated to cover costs that have already been incurred. Evidently Phoenix has a plan to pay the pension debt off over the next 22 years, but this does not negate the fact that this debt exists today. To explain this concept on a personal level, someone who plans to pay off a credit card balance over time by paying the minimum payments still has outstanding credit card debt now."
Years of mismanagement has left Phoenix on shaky financial ground and our citizens are paying the price. Tax increases, new fees, and service cuts won't stop until the tax-and-spend politicians at City Hall focus on the structural problems in our budget.
Our fourth annual report on the financial condition of the nation's 75 largest cities.
Take a look around your community: Roads are crumbling. Public parks in disrepair. Ambulance and police dispatch services take longer to arrive. Citizen services are being cut. Yet virtually every city, county, and state in the country spent the last decade raising taxes every year.
Phoenix faces big challenges on pension liabilities. Its plans for police officers and firefighters are roughly 60% unfunded
The OAG said the pension exclusions should not be allowed and that the expenditures the county was permitted to exclude were actually $3.3 million as opposed to the $60.9 million it reported.
On August 27th, Phoenix voters will decide on two issues that could fundamentally alter the landscape of the city.
“With the prospect of Phoenix voters being asked to weigh in during a special election in August on a measure aimed at increasing accountability and transparency in Phoenix city government’s finances, a watchdog group has published a report show the debt burden on each taxpayer in the city amounts to $13,290. … Phoenix is actually better off than the other nine cities that Truth in Accounting studied … Highest is Chicago, where the taxpayer burden is a whopping $119,110 …”
The Responsible Budgets initiative would require that new spending growth be limited to the increase of population plus inflation and that every dollar above that must be used to pay down the city’s unfunded pension obligations that now exceed $4.5 billion.
Phoenix is facing a huge pension crisis and drastic measures are being considered to deal with it. One lawmaker wants the city to stop spending any money until it gets its pension debt under control.
Everyone with a retirement account should keep an eye on 70½. That's the quirky age when investors typically must start pulling money out of Individual Retirement Accounts and workplace 401(k)-style plans – or face the consequences.
TIA's new analysis of the 10 most populous U.S. cities and their largest local government units shows you're on the hook for more debt than you think.