As expected, Governor Paterson has sent the state Legislature yet another version of his proposal to cap local property taxes. Replicating the language he submitted as part of the 2010-11 Executive Budget, the governor's latest program bill also hews... Read More
Governor Paterson has sent the Legislature a chapter amendment that would delete a proposed new hedge fund tax from the state's pending 2010-11 revenue bill. By approving the chapter amendment, which is expected to happen today, the state Assembly... Read More
Officials in New Hartford say they were surprised to learn recently that town bookkeeper Carol Fairbrother retired in 2007 and now collects a pension of $42,696 on top of her $58,714 salary. Read More
Notwithstanding media coverage predicting New York's "latest budget ever," it's worth noting that all of the state's 2010-11 budget appropriations already have been adopted. What's left hanging is a revenue bill encompassing $828 million in additional... Read More
Cayuga County legislators will vote Tuesday on a plan to increase their pensions by reducing their workweek from 35 to 30 hours. If approved by the 15-member Legislature, members will qualify for full-time pension credit, rather than two-thirds... Read More
Lost in the discussion of the Paterson administration's threatened layoffs is the fact its "no layoffs" pledge (if legal) applies to only two public employee unions. A year ago, the Paterson administration signed agreements with the Civil Service Employees Association... Read More
Goldman Sachs reported lackluster profits this morning, bringing some bad tidings to New York's pols. Even after taking into account Britain's one-off bonus payroll tax and the company's $550 million SEC fine, profits fell by 44 percent from the same... Read More
A federal appeals court has ruled that nonmembers of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) cannot be required to pay for the union's efforts to organize private-sector employees. The decision, if upheld on appeal, is a setback in a campaign... Read More
A small school district in Westchester County is examining whether it can afford to educate 17 children of its employees who reside outside the district. Like many school districts in New York, the North Salem Central School District allows its nonresident... Read More
Governor Paterson has dropped a proposal to impose New York State's personal income tax on the interest income of non-resident hedge fund managers from his latest preferred list of revenue-raisers to help pay for the 2010-11 budget appropriations... Read More
Retired police officers who hope to collect a pension while working as a local police chief are facing new obstacles to double dipping. A 2008 state law has imposed a more stringent review process before any state retiree is granted a waiver allowing him... Read More
Baruch's E.S. Savas has a good piece in today's Post on introducing competitive contracting to the New York City and downstate public-bus system. As the MTA cuts routes, the state, the MTA, the city, or some combination thereof should bundle the... Read More