The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Local Governance Director James Quintero issued the following statement on the new report released by Moody’s Investor Services suggesting that unfunded pension liabilities in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio have grown to a collective $22.6 billion. The report states, “Rapid growth in unfunded pension liabilities over the past 10 years has transformed local governments’ balance sheet burdens to historically high levels.”
“Too many Texas cities are making pension promises that they can’t possibly keep, at least not without massive tax increases, benefit reductions, or some combination of both,” said Quintero. “To help avert the possibility of multiple municipal bankruptcies, the next Legislature needs to take decisive action to restore sustainability and sensibility to these currently broken systems.”
For more information or to request an interview with Mr. Quintero please contact Caroline Espinosa at [email protected] or 512-472-2700.
James Quintero is Director of the Center for Local Governance and Think Local Liberty project at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
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The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.