Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate provided North Shore business leaders and executives with an overview of the region’s fiscal health and the underlying issues facing the state three years after the pandemic.
Howgate, the keynote speaker at The Chamber’s Business Insight breakfast forum on Wednesday, Aug. 9, pointed to critical areas that must be addressed, including a spike in domestic migration as residents leave Massachusetts for other states, a lack of housing inventory, and soaring rents and property taxes.
Howgate also shared data highlighting the impact of the state’s Student Opportunity Act, and what each Essex County district pays in K-12 funding compared to their state aid amount. This amount doesn’t translate to per-pupil spending, he added.
There has also been an uptick among local high school graduates opting to join the workforce rather than attend a two-year or four-year college, Howgate reported. With the ongoing labor shortage, they may feel it is more advantageous for these graduates to easily find a job that offers a good salary, he said.
The Title Sponsor of this forum was Newburyport Bank. Presenting sponsors included: EBSCO, Constitution Financial Partners, The YMCA of Metro North, Colliers, and McLane Middleton. Our Supporting Sponsors were: Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School, Virtual COO and Cataldo Ambulance.