A new report says cities and towns in Massachusetts experienced their strongest revenue gains in a decade during a recent 12-month period.

The Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation says the state’s 351 cities and towns totaled $28.4 billion in revenues and expenditures in fiscal year 2018, a 4.2 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. It was the highest growth rate since 2008.

The annual municipal finance report notes major differences remain between local communities when it comes to relative economic health.

Property taxes in Massachusetts rose by an average 4.5 percent in the last fiscal year, while the total assessed value of residential properties increased 5.7 percent.

The trend of fewer Proposition 2 1/2 tax overrides also continued in 2018, with only 20 in Massachusetts compared to 26 the previous year and more than 100 override votes per year between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2010.

The report also looked at a category known as “excess capacity,” or the amount of additional taxes a city or town may collect without seeking to override Proposition 2 1/2. At $611 million, excess capacity has nearly tripled in the last decade. In fiscal 2018, excess capacity grew by $48 million, or 8.5 percent, the first time since fiscal 2010 that growth has not exceeded 10 percent.

The local receipts category includes motor vehicle excise taxes, service fees and local option taxes on hotel and meals. Vehicle excise revenues totaled $799 million in fiscal 2018, an increase of 5 percent over fiscal 2017. Currently, 167 municipalities levy a meals and hotels tax, 87 levy at least one local option tax, and 97 communities do not levy either local option tax, the report said.

The share of local expenses covered by local property taxes has shot up from about 52.5 percent in fiscal 2008 to more than 58 percent of all municipal revenues in fiscal 2018, with the share rising in nine of ten years. The report attributes the trend in part to the state’s strong real estate market, noting the assessed value of residential properties in Massachusetts grew by 5.7 percent from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018.

As of January, the most recent month for which data is available, the median single-family sale price in Massachusetts increased 4.9 percent on a year-over-year basis to $367,000 according to The Warren Group publisher of Banker & Tradesman, marking an all-time high for the month of January. The median sale price rose by 2.8 percent for the same period, hitting $354,600 – the highest January median condo price in Massachusetts in history.

The State House News Service contributed to this report.