Employee compensation in the state and local government sector increased at twice the private-sector rate during the 12 months ending in December, according by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read More
Blog
Today, a panel of arbitrators ruled against Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein in many respects on his longstanding dispute with the Port Authority, which owns the land. But the arbitrators also handed Silverstein a big victory -- one Read More
Providing health insurance to retired Utica teachers will cost taxpayers $189 million over the next 30 years, an amount the school board president calls "scary." When it ratified a teachers contract in September 2008, the school board did not know Read More
You'd think the author of aslamming the "too big to fail" doctrine and calling for smarter financial regulations would find something to like in President Obama's . But in , Nicole argues that Obama's latest gambit would leave New York with "the w Read More
Governor David Paterson wants state employees to defer four percent raises and five days of salary until they retire or quit their jobs. Haven't we seen this movie before? What makes Paterson think the outcome will be any different than when publi Read More
Governor Paterson's includes a helpful table summarizing the sources of state spending growth over the past 10 years. The numbers highlight the favored status of education during a period that saw one of the greatest spending run-ups in New York's Read More
Last week, about Governor Paterson's somewhat puzzling implying (seemingly) that his 2011-12 budget would result in a $1 billion surplus that he would use to finance a property tax circuit breaker. "If the governor is saying that the four-year fi Read More
Governor Paterson's 2010-11 Executive Budget carries a hidden New York City personal income tax (PIT) increase for the city's wealthiest households. The increase would result from adoption of Paterson's proposed changes to the state School Tax Rel Read More
Producers of films made principally in New York will receive another $420 million a year in state tax subsidies under Gov. Paterson's 2010-11 Executive Budget. The proposed allocation of $2.1 billion for the film production credit over the next fiv Read More
A news release from Governor David Paterson he is proposing "significant spending reductions" in the he is releasing today. If only it were true. The net budget "reductions" sought by the governor consist largely of cuts in projected baselin Read More
The Utica school board ratified a new teachers contract in September 2008--even though school business officials could not tell them how much it will cost future taxpayers. Now, the district says it has calculated the cost, but it refuses to make it Read More
Nearly 29,000 Syracuse-area residents have lost their jobs and the inflation rate is flat so you'd think that might give school board members pause. Yet, the 10 school districts in the area that settled contracts in the year or so si Read More