Collins Center - Swampscott Final Services Delivery & Opportunities Report

Massachusetts municipalities have spent the last decade facing a very challenging financial and operating environment and will likely continue to face one for the foreseeable future. The Town of Swampscott is not immune from this and in some ways is more precariously positioned than many cities and towns in the Commonwealth.

On the expenditure side, both the number of responsibilities facing municipal governments and the relative expense of fixed costs (e.g., health care, OPEB, etc.) have been rising. On the revenue side, the two main sources of municipal revenue (i.e., state aid and property taxes) have remained stagnant. The revenue challenge can be particularly difficult in municipalities with little commercial tax base and in those that receive a smaller proportion of their budgets from state aid (i.e., often wealthier communities). In those places, most of the revenue comes directly from the residential taxpayer. Both of these are applicable to Swampscott... Continue Reading Here.