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
Discovering that government employees work extra overtime to spike their pensions is akin to learning there's gambling in Casablanca. Read More
Last week, FW wrote about sinking investment-side bank profits and their implications for New York tax revenues. Today comes another hint of bad news: as the Journal reports today (page B1), luxury retail sales have been falling again, down 3.9 percent.. Read More
In today's New York Times piece on how Con Ed has worked to keep the lights on, Queens Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris said of the New York City electricity provider that "the company had still not pumped enough money into modernizing its infrastructure." Read More
While many private-sector employees might hope for two weeks notice before being laid off, state workers would get two months notice under a bill passed by the state Senate and on the third reading in the Assembly. (Update below.) Currently, state workers get... Read More
As the Wall Street Journal reports in its quarterly review today (subscription required), investment and universal banks' securities underwriting activity over the past three months has fallen to levels not seen since the last few months of 2008. Read More
School superintendents don't get overtime, but that didn't prevent former Niagara Falls School Superintendent Carmen A. Granto Jr. from collecting a pension larger than his salary. He did so by cashing in 45 unused vacation days and 747 unused sick days... Read More
Governor David Paterson and the Democratic leaders of the New York State Legislature have agreed to impose $50 million in new taxes on non-resident partners in New York-based hedge funds. Here's how the provision is described in the memo accompanying... Read More
New York State once again topped all states in K-12 education spending in 2007-08, according to U.S. Census data released today. The Empire State's school spending of $17,173 per pupil was 67 percent above the national average of $10,259. Read More
Despite growing signs that Congress is finding it harder to spend with reckless abandon, New York State budget negotiators were counting on getting $1 billion in added Federal Medicaid Reimbursement Percentage (FMAP) aid under the so-called "jobs bill" expected to move... Read More
A gubernatorial task force failed to deliver what public employee unions sought: a recommendation that existing health benefits for retirees be virtually locked in place--despite budget gaps across the state. In a nine-page report, the Task Force on Public Retiree Health Insurance could not agree on the very issue... Read More
Albany likes to tax bad things, like cigarettes and, maybe soon, soda. But one State Senator's new idea of a sin tax -- on the defaulted sovereign nation of Argentina -- would harm the state's main cash cow, Wall Street. Argentina defaulted on its... Read More