Governor Cuomo pointed out at last week's budget presentation that New York school districts would find it easier to deal with a proposed cut in state school aid if they froze wages for teachers and administrators. But given the attitude of most te Read More
Public schools in New York could save $500 million a year, offsetting fully one-third of Governor Cuomo's proposed cut in K-12 state aid, if they adjusted their health insurance premium-sharing arrangements for teachers to match those for state government employees... Read More
We pointed out last week that the Judiciary has been failing to do its part to help the state reduce expenses during a severe fiscal crisis. Today, the New York Post reports the state Office of Court Administration is spending $23 million to renovate... Read More
The Judiciary isn't playing ball with Gov. Cuomo's efforts to reduce the state budget, as I point out in the New York Post today. A person who has reviewed the budget proposal by the Office for Court Administration (OCA) emails this follow-up... Read More
In the publishing business, the annotation "TK" is used in manuscripts to indicate some important piece of information is "to come." Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2011-12 Executive Budget is a book draft with an impressive cover and a promising theme... Read More
Today's NY1/YNN-Marist Poll of New York voter attitudes on state budget issues may set a new benchmark for complete disregard of a key policy detail, resulting in at least one finding that is essentially worthless. Here's how the Marist pollsters framed the question... Read More
The days leading up to the presentation of New York State's Executive Budget are traditionally used by the governor's office to leak selected details from the coming proposal. Andrew Cuomo, however, is breaking the mold. Last Friday -- Budget D-Day minus... Read More
Governor Cuomo says the state of Wisconsin is the model for his unusual collaborative approach to attempting to reduce Medicaid costs in New York -- but a report in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) cites "little evidence of savings"... Read More
Following up on a campaign promise, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is saying he will freeze the salaries of state government workers for a year. Is this a big deal? No. I explain why in this post at the Manhattan Institute's new website, www.PublicSectorInc.org. Read More
Two cities in heavily taxed Niagara County have agreed to share the burden of providing water services. But the deal first needed to get around objections from a municipal labor union. Read More
New York's public-sector employees have been promised $205 billion in post-retirement health benefits that the state and its local governments have set aside no money to pay for, a new Empire Center report found. Read More
To the public demanding to know why the school superintendent is leaving early and four other administrators have been fired, suspended or transferred, the Jordan-Elbridge school board replies: None of your business. Read More