Baltimore City has debt of more than $3 billion, putting a roughly $14,000 burden on each of the city’s taxpayers, a new study by Truth in Accounting has found.
The Chicago-based nonprofit released its annual Financial State of the Cities report Tuesday morning, which analyzes and grades the fiscal health of 75 major U.S. cities. Truth in Accounting gave Baltimore a “D” for its high taxpayer burden and ranked it as the 12th worst city in the country for budget issues.
Baltimore has $5.4 billion worth of bills and assets of $2.2 billion, resulting in a $3.2 billion debt burden, the report found. The organization attributes the source of the debts to decisions made by elected city officials over the years.
According to the report, “Baltimore’s financial problems stem mostly from unfunded retirement obligations that have accumulated over many years.”
For example, the report says the city has promised $7.5 billion in retirement benefits, but has failed to fully fund that amount. There are $1.9 billion in pension and $885 million in retiree health care benefits still unfunded, the report says.