Market volatility caused investments to decrease

CHICAGO, IL, USA, February 15, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The 2024 Financial State of the Cities surveys the fiscal health of the 75 largest municipalities in the United States. This report has been released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting. TIA analysts make their calculations using data from the fiscal year 2022 audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports on file in city halls across the country, which are not analyzed on this scale by any other organization. The fiscal year 2022 audited financial reports contain data on the city’s overall financial health as well as its pension plans.

The Financial State of the Cities report found that 53 cities did not have enough money to pay their bills. Each city has some form of a balanced budget requirement, but this new report shows that cities have not met the intent of their requirement and have pushed costs onto future taxpayers.

The cities’ poor financial health also affects city workers' retirement plans, like those for teachers, firefighters, and police officers. For fiscal year 2022, the cities continued to receive and spend federal COVID-19 relief funds, and as the U.S. economy reopened, they took in additional tax revenue. For most cities such economic gains were offset by increases in their pension liabilities, which were caused in large part due to decreases in the market value of pension investments. Over the past few years, investment market values have swung dramatically. In 2022, this volatility negatively impacted most cities’ pension investments and their financial condition, which demonstrates the risk to taxpayers when cities offer defined pension benefits to their employees.

Some cities, however, did have enough money to weather the market volatility. Washington, DC, which ranked no. 1 among the 75 largest cities, had a surplus of $2.8 billion. If you were to divide that figure by the number of DC taxpayers, hypothetically each taxpayer’s share is $10,700. Truth in Accounting calls this calculation a Taxpayer Surplus™.

Not every city in the United States is so lucky. Many larger and older cities owe billions of dollars to underfunded retirement plans for public sector employees. New York City claimed the prize for worst municipal finances in the United States for the seventh year in a row. Every taxpayer in the Big Apple would have to pay $61,800 in order for the city to pay off all its bills. Truth in Accounting calls this calculation a Taxpayer Burden™.

The full Financial State of the Cities report can be found online. The full 75-city list is also included below:

Cities (In Alphabetical Order):

Albuquerque, NM Taxpayer Burden: $3,900
Anaheim, CA Taxpayer Burden: $2,900
Anchorage, AK Taxpayer Burden: $100
Arlington, TX Taxpayer Surplus: $700
Atlanta, GA Taxpayer Burden: $4,100
Aurora, CO Taxpayer Surplus: $2,400
Austin, TX Taxpayer Burden: $6,500
Bakersfield, CA Taxpayer Burden: $100
Baltimore, MD Taxpayer Burden: $14,100
Boston, MA Taxpayer Burden: $7,800
Charlotte, NC Taxpayer Surplus: $600
Chicago, IL Taxpayer Burden: $42,900
Chula Vista, CA Taxpayer Surplus: $1,200
Cincinnati, OH Taxpayer Burden: $6,700
Cleveland, OH Taxpayer Surplus: $300
Colorado Springs, CO Taxpayer Surplus: $100
Columbus, OH Taxpayer Burden: $2,900
Corpus Christi, TX Taxpayer Surplus: $1,500
Dallas, TX Taxpayer Burden: $9,600
Denver, CO Taxpayer Burden: $6,400
Detroit, MI Taxpayer Burden: $3,000
El Paso, TX Taxpayer Burden: $800
Fort Wayne, IN Taxpayer Surplus: $400
Fort Worth, TX Taxpayer Burden: $7,400
Fresno, CA Taxpayer Surplus: $2,300
Greensboro, NC Taxpayer Burden: $2,100
Henderson, NV Taxpayer Burden: $2,500
Honolulu, HI Taxpayer Burden: $24,200
Houston, TX Taxpayer Burden: $9,000
Indianapolis, IN Taxpayer Burden: $3,800
Irvine, CA Taxpayer Surplus: $6,100
Jacksonville, FL Taxpayer Burden: $11,200
Kansas City, MO Taxpayer Burden: $9,000
Las Vegas, NV Taxpayer Burden: $500
Lexington, KY Taxpayer Burden: $7,400
Lincoln, NE Taxpayer Surplus: $4,100
Long Beach, CA Taxpayer Burden: $1,700
Los Angeles, CA Taxpayer Burden: $1,500
Louisville, KY Taxpayer Burden: $700
Memphis, TN Taxpayer Burden: $4,000
Mesa, AZ Taxpayer Burden: $5,500
Miami, FL Taxpayer Burden: $15,500
Milwaukee, WI Taxpayer Burden: $15,300
Minneapolis, MN Taxpayer Burden: $2,800
Nashville, TN Taxpayer Burden: $4,500
New Orleans, LA Taxpayer Burden: $18,200
New York City, NY Taxpayer Burden: $61,800
Oakland, CA Taxpayer Burden: $7,300
Oklahoma City, OK Taxpayer Surplus: $2,900
Omaha, NE Taxpayer Burden: $7,400
Orlando, FL Taxpayer Burden: $800
Philadelphia, PA Taxpayer Burden: $20,400
Phoenix, AZ Taxpayer Burden: $4,500
Pittsburgh, PA Taxpayer Burden: $13,200
Plano, TX Taxpayer Surplus: $5,100
Portland, OR Taxpayer Burden: $20,100
Raleigh, NC Taxpayer Surplus: $2,200
Riverside, CA Taxpayer Surplus: $1,500
Sacramento, CA Taxpayer Surplus: $300
Saint Paul, MN Taxpayer Burden: $1,600
San Antonio, TX Taxpayer Surplus: $900
San Diego, CA Taxpayer Burden: $4,100
San Francisco, CA Taxpayer Burden: $8,800
San Jose, CA Taxpayer Burden: $8,700
Santa Ana, CA Taxpayer Burden: $3,200
Seattle, WA Taxpayer Burden: $2,600
St. Louis, MO Taxpayer Burden: $11,100
Stockton, CA Taxpayer Surplus: $1,100
Tampa, FL Taxpayer Surplus: $1,500
Toledo, OH Taxpayer Burden: $3,200
Tucson, AZ Taxpayer Burden: $7,700
Tulsa, OK Taxpayer Surplus: $600
Virginia Beach, VA Taxpayer Surplus: $1,600
Washington, D.C. Taxpayer Surplus: $10,700
Wichita, KS Taxpayer Burden: $300

Founded in 2002, Truth in Accounting is dedicated to educating and empowering citizens with understandable, reliable, and transparent government financial information. Sheila Weinberg is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 40 years of experience in the field.

Judi Willard
Truth in Accounting
+1 217-801-5821
jwillard@truthinaccounting.org
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