Blog

The New York State Assembly this evening followed the Senate' lead in passing a that would undermine a property tax cap while generating more risk for taxpayers — but a leading State Capitol reporter has that Governor Cuomo's "quick comment" o Read More

from Wednesday's "Replacing The Tappan Zee Bridge" event is up. Speakers and panelists discussed why New York needs a new bridge -- the three-plus-mile span crosses the Hudson between Rockland and Westchester -- and how to build it. One of the mos Read More

A property tax cap hasn't even passed both houses yet (as of late Thursday), and already the state Senate has slipped through a bill that would allow school districts to circumvent it.  The measure immediately was referred to the Assembly Ways & Read More

A coalition of state government employee unions in Connecticut is about to reject a proposed no-layoff contract deal hammered out last month with Governor Dannel Molloy. It's difficult to compare the Connecticut pact with the agreement reached ye Read More

New York City's monthly has some good nuggets of information about the local economy. The report is yet another reminder that since the credit bubble burst, the city has done better than the rest of the country in losing fewer jobs and getting th Read More

On Wednesday, in an apparent move to appease open government advocates and curious taxpayers, City Comptroller John Liu announced that the New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS) Board of Trustees had adopted three resolutions that would “provide the public with unprecedented access to information concerning the pension system.” Read More

The financially pinched Troy School District is -- plus health insurance for life -- to get lost. Fadhilika Atiba-Weza, whose last day of work is June 30, has most recently been paid an annual salary of just under $200,000.  . Atiba-Weza reporte Read More

After sailing unscathed (with steady pay hikes, no less) through a severe recession and fiscal crisis, members of New York's largest state government union will belatedly make some relatively small, mostly temporary financial sacrifices under the ten Read More

A 2016 expiration date was, indeed, added to the agreed-upon property tax cap provisions of the monster omnibus bill now being cooked up in the Legislature.  However, based on information provided in the past hour by the governor's office and the Se Read More

This quotes Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as saying the agreed-upon property tax cap will expire in five years.  If that's true, the cap is not worth the paper it's written on--since, as explained and , one house of the Legislature will be able Read More

The Beekmantown Central School District made when preparing its voting machines prior to their school budget vote back in May.  At least one of the three machines understated -- by $2 million -- the cost of the proposed budget (and a second proposi Read More

The Yonkers City School District will be allowed to bond out a portion of its rising pension contributions under a bill that seems greased for end-of-session passage by the Legislature. Sponsored by Sen. Jeff Klein and Assemblyman Michael Spano, t Read More