Some thoughts on Governor Paterson's today that he expects his forthcoming 2010-11 Executive Budget to result in a 2011-12 "surplus" of $1 billion that he will propose using for "property tax relief" in the form of a new "circuit-breaker" income tax Read More
Daily News columnist Bill Hammond that the Empire Center's new Blueprint for a Better Budget, which proposes $30 billion in savings over three years, should be "required reading for Gov. Paterson and all 212 members of the Legislature," an Read More
New York City's independent budget office (IBO) that Gotham will take in $1.3 billion more than the mayor is projecting over the rest of this fiscal year and next. The extra cash will alleviate some pressure on the city's projected (itself already Read More
Governor Paterson today that New York State faces "an unprecedented financial emergency," and asked the Legislature to choose between passing his deficit-reduction plan or granting him a new "executive option" to cut the budget unilaterally. But t Read More
in today's New York Post explains why—and how—the Paterson administration should declare a fiscal emergency and seek to impose a three-year freeze on all state and local employee salaries in New York. This would save taxpayers statewid Read More
When this year's state budget was first enacted back in April, the budget gap for fiscal 2010-11 was at $2.17 billion. The in July more than doubled this estimate, to $4.62 billion. And today's says next year's gap has grown by another 47 per Read More
Democratic mayoral challenger Bill Thompson said something good yesterday: "Can you afford 4 percent [raises for teachers] in the current environment? Probably not," he . Thompson's right. The education payroll, not including benefits, is alread Read More
Well, better late than never. But given in New York, Governor Paterson's may be a day late and a dollar short. Make that a billion. Just a day after state Comptroller DiNapoli in support of his own plausible estimate that the 2009-10 budget Read More