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Did Justice Prevail? Questions Surrounding Correctional Officers and Budgetary Allocation within the Suffolk County Sheriff Department and Others
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Blog: Transparency, News, Transparency /by Paige AndersonAccording to MassOpenBooks 2018 statistics, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department is the 18th highest department by average pay of all employees from 126 departments listed (excluding authorities) in the state. It has 1,135 employees who earn a total of $85,059,220. While the total number of employees decreased from 1,138 in 2012 to 1,135 in 2018, the number of “correctional officers” from South Bay House of Correction increased from 391 in 2012 to 441 in 2018. In six years, the average pay of correctional officers increased 76 percent, from $18,084 in 2012 to $75,296 in 2018, while total pay in the entire department increased 15 percent over the same period, from $71,939,046 to $85,059,220. Similarly, the number of “jail officers” from […]
MassOpenBooks: A Look at the Highest Paid Private Vendors in 2018
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Transparency /by Ana RijalIn 2018, quasi-public Massachusetts agencies made a total of 115,202 payments worth $7.1 billion to private vendors. Quasi-public agencies are entities that receive state funding but remain partially autonomous from the executive and legislative branches. Since these agencies are somewhat independent, a look at which private vendors are paid the most, can provide important insights that promote accountability and efficient use of tax dollars. MassOpenBooks supports this objective by presenting the large dataset in an accessible way. As displayed in the “Totals” section of MassOpenBooks, the average payment was $61,874, and the largest payment was approximately $151 million. Below are the top five private vendors for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the Commonwealth Health […]
Vehicle Maintenance Expenses Reveal Need for Updated T System
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Harris FoulkesThe MBTA is in the midst of a transformative $8 billion, five-year capital investment program. There is perhaps no better metric that represents the necessity of the MBTA’s initiative than vehicle maintenance expenses. According to Pioneer Institute’s MBTAAnalysis.com, between 2007 and 2017 the T experienced a nearly 60 percent increase in overall vehicle maintenance expenses as spending grew from $211,925,186 in 2007 to $338,597,765 in 2017. While peer transportation systems also experienced higher vehicle maintenance costs, the MBTA far surpassed them. In fact, the T went from seventh to fourth among its peers in terms of vehicle maintenance expenses between 2007 and 2017. One of the main reasons the MBTA experienced such a significant increase was the rise in vehicle […]
Demand Response Transportation on the Decline
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Harris FoulkesDespite a growth in public transportation use in recent years, the MBTA has seen a decline in demand response transportation. Demand response transportation is on-demand service primarily for seniors and people with disabilities, as well as some other services like commuter shuttles. According to Pioneer Institute’s MBTAAnalysis.com, the MBTA’s demand response transportation experienced a 20 percent decrease between 2008-2012 and 2013-2017. The MBTA’s primary demand response transportation is the RIDE, a paratransit service that serves the elderly and disabled. The decline in RIDE users is likely due to the emergence of ridesharing apps, as usage of the MBTA’s demand response transportation began to decline in 2013, shortly after Uber launched in Massachusetts. This is unsurprising considering the convenience ridesharing apps […]
Mass Analysis: Municipalities in Massachusetts that collect the most in forfeitures & fees per capita
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Madeleine CammaranoFines and forfeitures can be a relatively significant revenue source for municipalities. In 2017, they generated a total of $103,647,376 for Massachusetts cities and towns. Such revenue plugs holes in local budgets. According to MassAnalysis, the five municipalities with the highest fine and forfeiture revenue per capita generated a total of $75,232,513 in 2017, accounting for 78 percent of the statewide total. Fines and forfeitures are collected from a variety of sources, including: parking and speeding tickets neglecting trash/snow removal property seizure during an investigation. The fluctuation of state and federal aid municipalities receive in a fiscal year impacts how aggressively they pursue fine and forfeiture revenue. In 2017, Boston generated half the fine and forfeiture revenue in the state […]
MBTA Strikes Balance Nationally with Number of Vehicles Operated
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Harris FoulkesThe MBTA provides incredible benefits to the citizens of Massachusetts. Given that Metropolitan Boston provides 74 percent of the state’s jobs and generates 84 percent of its gross domestic product, the MBTA has the enormous responsibility of transporting about 500,000 commuters daily to sustain economic growth in the Commonwealth. While the T has the obvious benefit of helping commuters get to work, including the 27 percent of MBTA light and heavy rail riders who are from zero-car households, the T actually generates $11.4 billion in annual benefits ($3.6 billion in travel cost savings, $7.1 billion in travel time savings, $640 million in avoided crash costs, and $30 million in avoided pollution costs). Given the importance of public transportation in the […]
MBTA’s Popular Heavy Rail System Lacking Expenditures
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Harris FoulkesThe MBTA’s heavy rail system is made up of the Red, Orange, and Blue lines and is a critical part of greater Boston’s public transportation network. In fact, given that about 57 percent of MBTA trips are on subways, heavy rail is crucial to countless individuals and companies in the Boston area. According to Pioneer Institute’s MBTAAnalysis.com, from 2007 to 2017 unlinked passenger trips on the T grew by over 44 percent. In the same time period, the heavy rail system was the most popular of the T’s transit modes, chalking up 1.7 billion unlinked passenger trips, or nearly 60 million more than any other MBTA mode of transportation. In fact, the heavy rail system experienced a 14% growth between […]
MassOpenBooks: A Look at Annual Pension Trends
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Pensions /by Ana RijalIn 2018, the Commonwealth provided $5.2 Billion in pension benefits to retirees in the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (MTRS) and Massachusetts State Employees’ Retirement System (MSERS). Of this amount, 42.6 percent went to the MSERS and 57.4 percent went to the MTRS. The public can sort through this pension data on MassOpenBooks, Pioneer Institute’s government transparency tool. The yearly change section of MassOpenBooks analyzes the pension data by providing the percent change since 2011. Below are charts that illustrate the average pension by year for MSERS and MTRS. In 2014, the average annual pension in the MSERS was $32,182. By 2018, it was $37,263, a 15.8 percent increase. During this time, there was a 27.5 percent increase in the total […]
MassOpenBooks: A Look at the Top Departments by Average Overtime Pay in 2018
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Ana RijalIn 2018, the Commonwealth provided a total of $368.15 million in overtime pay to state employees. MassOpenBooks, Pioneer Institute’s government transparency tool, sorts through and presents this data in an accessible manner. Below is a chart that lists the top 10 departments by average overtime pay for 2018. As indicated in the payroll section of MassOpenBooks, the Department of State Police has been the top agency for average overtime pay since 2010, the earliest year for which data has been made available by the state. From this time to 2018, average overtime pay increased 34.73 percent. This change is particularly concerning, considering the department’s recent overtime scandal. The State Police Department is not the only law enforcement agency to experience […]
A Follow-up on Pension Systems with the Highest Growth Rates in Unfunded Liability
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Pensions, Blog: Transparency /by Cole KroningerAs Pioneer has previously discussed, Massachusetts continues to kick the can down the road with regard to its public pension liabilities. Legislators and municipalities have not only delayed the funding schedules of these pension systems, but have also back-loaded them, leaving the bulk of debt amortization for the future, while only paying small amounts now. In a recent blog, Pioneer covered the three public pension systems with the highest growth rates in unfunded liability: Adams, Marblehead, and Winchester. Given the alarming increases, we wanted to see if these pension systems were making steps towards improvement– namely, if they planned to tackle their debt now rather than later. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case. Using MassPensions.com, one can […]
MassPensions: Three Highest Growth Rates in Unfunded Pension Liability
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Pensions, Blog: Transparency /by Cole KroningerIt’s no secret that Massachusetts’s public pension systems are following a dangerous path. At both the state and local levels, officials have allowed unfunded pension liabilities to grow at unsustainable rates. According to a recent Pioneer study, unfunded liabilities of the state’s three retirement systems grew by 196% between 2003 and 2017. Most of the state’s 106 pension systems are not projected to be fully funded for another 10 to 20 years and taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for these questionably managed funds. Pensioners would be right to question if their benefits may someday be reduced. Ultimately, Massachusetts’s unfunded pension liabilities could hinder the state’s long-term economic growth, should investors believe that the only viable fix is a tax […]
MassPensions: Highest Reductions in Unfunded Liabilities
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Pensions, Blog: Transparency, News /by Cole KroningerDespite the overall dismal performance of Massachusetts’s public pensions, there are systems that have done a noteworthy job of reducing their unfunded liability. For taxpayers who contribute to these systems and public employees who benefit from them, this is great news. It means they are less likely to see tax hikes and/or reduced benefits. It’s also great news for future generations who are less likely to have to shoulder the burden of their predecessors’ debt. While improvements of any kind are praiseworthy, there are a few pension systems that stand-out for significant progress in reducing their unfunded liability. Here are the public pensions with the largest decreases in unfunded liability over the past several years, according to MassPensions: Leominster […]
MassAnalysis: Which municipality receives the most state revenue per capita?
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Madeleine CammaranoLocal governments generate capital from a variety of sources: service charges, federal revenue, state revenue, licensing and permit fees, local taxes, and interfund operating transfers. Pioneer Institute’s Website, MassAnalysis, “allows the comparison of municipalities based on a wide variety of metrics.” The website shows that in 2017, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts supported its municipalities with a total of $5,375,589,950 in state aid and $11,886,739 in K-12 education funds. Highest Municipal Receiver of State Aid Per Capita In 2017, Lawrence was the highest municipal recipient of state revenue per capita. Lawrence received a whopping $2,583 per capita, or $205,475,789 state aid. From 2012-2017, state aid increased by 19.83 percent. Compared to its five closest urban peers, Lawrence received at least 30 […]
MassOpenBooks: The Top Overtime Earners in 2018
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Transparency /by Ana RijalAccording to state law, most Massachusetts employees are entitled to 1.5 times their hourly wage for time worked over 40 hours per week. The public can sort through this overtime data and other payroll information on Pioneer Institute’s MassOpenBooks. In 2018, the Commonwealth made a total of $368.15 million in overtime payments to public employees. Thirty-eight employees were paid more than $100,000 in overtime. From the top 100 earners, the average overtime pay was $101,856. While this is an astoundingly large amount, it does not tell the full story when it comes to overtime pay. Below is a chart that highlights the top 10 overtime earners and their overtime pay as a percent of their base pay. Source: MassOpenBooks. Hover […]
MBTA’s Planned Spending Comes at a Welcome Time
/0 Comments/in Blog /by Harris FoulkesWith the MBTA making the massive commitment to spend $8 billion on capital maintenance over the next five years, it is important to understand recent T capital expenditures if we are to grasp the significance of the agency’s investment. Over the past decade the T has ramped up spending, but it is still far from the planned $8 billion. Between 2013 and 2017, the T spent $3.29 billion on its bus, commuter rail, ferry, heavy rail, light rail, and trolleybus systems. While this was a large increase from the $2.1 billion spent over the previous five years (2008-2012) on the same modes, it is far from the spending Governor Baker has planned. It is, however, clear that in recent years […]