My town is already facing a ~10% gap due to loss of state aid and income tax revenue. Many municipalities have contracts with contractual pay increases e.g. 3%

My town is already facing a ~10% gap due to loss of state aid and income tax revenue. Many municipalities have contracts with contractual pay increases e.g. 3% per year COL increases on top of the constantly increasing healthcare costs (those were ~7% last year for my town). All told, that 10% gap turns into something closer to 15% due to the structural increases in outflows. And all of this for a town that is one of the few that has a AAA bond rating. Absent radically slashing services I don't think most municipalities can afford any sort of cut.