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Opportunity
January 24, 2022

City Spotlight: Brockton

The concentration of businesses in the city of Brockton has risen steadily, but employment levels still haven’t returned to pre-Great Recession levels, according to Pioneer’s Brockton City Spotlight. City Spotlights is a new product developed by Pioneer Institute using 16 years of data from its MassEconomixTM and MassAnalysisTM databases.
American Citizenship, Opportunity
May 1, 2019

The Connection Between Property Taxes and Pension Funding

A recent study from economist Evgenia Gorina, published in the journal State and Local Government Review, found a positive relationship between a local government’s reliance on property taxes as a revenue source and how well-funded their pensions are. In other words, local...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
April 4, 2019

Prepare for Town Budget Season with MassWatch

Online tools to understand your community’s financial condition &  so much more! Town budget season is upon us. Pioneer Institute’s MassAnalysis makes it easy to be well-prepared with the right questions to ask! MassAnalysis is one of Pioneer’s suite of online databases, known...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
March 15, 2019

Coastal Towns Charge the Most Permit Fees Per Capita in Massachusetts

One of the ways local governments raise revenue is by requiring permits and licenses for various activities. Occupational licensing laws, which require a series of tests, education, and fees before someone can enter certain professions, are administered at the state level. However,...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
May 2, 2018

How does the Commonwealth Pay for Roads?

Maintaining, safe, efficient public infrastructure challenges local, state and federal governments alike. Communities need to build new core public assets to support growing populations while maintaining those that are aging. Accomplishing those goals eats into local public works budgets. The Commonwealth provides...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
March 9, 2018

Which Cape Cod Town has the Best Summertime Revenue Take?

The towns of the Cape and Islands have economies built around summer tourism. The allure of vast shorelines and beautiful public beaches swell the population in the warmer months; the result – beach sticker fee income abounds. Whether it’s from beach revenue,...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
February 12, 2018

Where Does Your Community Stand: Using MassAnalysis to Compare Weston to Peer Towns

We can all learn a lot about our own behavior by watching the actions of our peers. The same concept can be applied to municipalities. Pioneer Institute’s MassAnalysis tools allows the public to do exactly that, compare their town or city to...
American Citizenship
June 13, 2017

Spending on Students: How Does Groton Compare?

Massachusetts is known for the strength of its K-12 education.  US News & World Report recently ranked the commonwealth’s public-school districts.  Having grown up in Groton, I wanted to see the correlation between educational expenditures and school district performance in the town....
American Citizenship, Opportunity
March 31, 2017

Finance Committee & Town Meeting Members: Benchmarking Tools for the FY2018 Budget Season

Understanding how your community performs relative to its peers is critical in effectively scrutinizing municipal budgets. Pioneer Institute has reintroduced its FREE online tool, MassAnalysis, with the most up-to-date information available from the Department of Revenue and FBI to help you do just that....
American Citizenship, Opportunity
March 1, 2016

Benchmarking Tools For Municipal Officials - Budget Season Edition

Understanding how your community performs relative to its peers is critical in effectively scrutinizing municipal budgets. Pioneer Institute has developed a free online tool, MassAnalysis, with the most up-to-date information available from the Department of Revenue and FBI to help you do...