Massachusetts cities, towns at crossroads, confronted with ‘historic fiscal pressures’

Local officials across Massachusetts are sounding the alarm over the combination of increasing costs and diminishing state aid that has prompted them to face what they describe as “historic fiscal pressures.”

Mayors and other local leaders say they have been stretched beyond a point where they feel like they are failing their residents, as they are facing numerous obstacles providing essential services.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association has found that “rising costs and sluggish state aid” have put local budgets at a breaking point across the Bay State.

That’s in addition to a prohibition against local sales and income taxes, plus a 2.5% cap on property tax increases, blocking cities and towns from “raising adequate revenue on their own.”

In a new report, titled “A Perfect Storm,”