It is hard to see any good way out for the City of Hartford.

Speaking to the Municipal Finance Advisory Commission on Thursday, Mayor Luke Bronin reported that the fiscal outlook for Hartford continues to grow grimmer.

The city now projects a $22.6 million deficit for the fiscal year, which is only in its third month.

The deficit balloons to $50 million, approaching 10 percent of the budget, if Bronin does not get the labor concessions his budget counts on.

Among the duties of the advisory commission, appointed by the governor, is to work with municipalities to improve their fiscal conditions.

When the legislature assigned it that task, it was envisioning a few fiscal Band-Aids.

Hartford needs heart surgery.

It is easy to dismiss this as of no concern to us here in eastern Connecticut. We have our own problems.

But it should be cause for universal alarm in this relatively small state when its capital city, the seat of its state government, is staring down bankruptcy.

It’s likely Hartford will need a bailout.

It could be court-ordered or legislatively negotiated. It could involve universal changes in tax policy in the state, given that many cities share Hartford’s problems, just not to its on-life-support degree.

Add that to the daunting agenda facing the legislature when its next session begins in 2017.

Bronin, elected in November, inherited this train wreck.

It is hard to feel bad for a city that pursued building a baseball stadium, after stealing a minor league team from a neighboring community, at a time it was selling city assets to pay the bills.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Park has turned into a well-documented disaster, leaving its new home team with no home for the entire 2016 season.

Hartford’s reserves and its fund balance are tapped out.

At 74.29, its mill rate is 50 percent higher than the average of the next five highest cities combined, points out the Hartford Courant’s Dan Haar.

That’s an $11,143.50 tax bill on a property assessed at $150,000. It’s a wonder anyone still lives there.

State revenues account for $251 million of Hartford’s $553 million budget.

Solutions? Frankly, we don’t have any. Doesn’t seem like anyone does.

But there is no ignoring it, not even around here.