S&P has just put out a report (no link) on the amount of money that state governments have promised to current and future retirees in “other post-employment benefits” (OPEB), mostly health. Read More
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State comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office that shadow the MTA's future. On the five-year, $26.3 billion capital plan, DiNapoli notes: The MTA has ... proposed borrowing $14.8 billion--the largest amount in its history. ... Debt service Read More
As expected, President Obama's calls for a return to pre-2001 income tax rates and new limits on itemized deductions for filers with incomes starting as low as $200,000 -- essentially the same thing the president proposed two years ago. [caption Read More
The city's independent budget office (IBO) has just put out on public-school spending and demographics. , school spending is up 2 percent cumulatively over the last three years, even after accounting for about 5 percent inflation as well as for dive Read More
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels The bridge runs over an interstate (I-64) that crosses the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky. It normally carries 80,000 co Read More
An in today's The New York Times highlights the state Senate's failure to pass a bill creating the health insurance exchanges required under the new federal health law. It seems that some of the same people who normally criticize the Legisl Read More
Fitch Ratings, the smallest of the big three credit agencies, has cut the rating on the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s $14.3 billion in debt that is backed by transportation revenues. Fitch dropped the rating from A+ to A. Read More
The state Department of Taxation and Finance has issued "" of New York's new tax cap. In addition, on a , the agency has posted its first-ever annual estimates of growth in assessed property value due to new construction for all New York counties a Read More
A new study by the Manhattan Institute’s Marcus Winters, confirming a wealth of other research, shows that the credentials valued under teacher contracts don’t equate to better teaching. Read More
New York has one of the nation's largest and highest-paid state and local government workforces, according to the latest data. Based on March 2010 payrolls, the average annual salary per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee of state and local gove Read More
Union membership in New York City remains the highest in the country but has declined in recent years, according to a new (but not yet publicly released) report from the City University's Murphy Institute. The report's main finding, as summarize Read More
The city's independent budget office (IBO) has released on New York's post-9/11 disaster and recovery spending. So who got the Liberty Bond money? As part of its $20.5 billion aid package, remember, Washington gave the city $1.2 billion to suppor Read More