While Governor Cuomo crawls further out on a fiscal limb, delaying threatened budget cuts in hopes of landing more federal aid, New York State is wrapping up its biggest short-term spring borrowing in 30 years. Read More
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New York City’s police department has come under criticism in recent days, with some city officials saying NYPD funding should be reduced. But many of the same New York City Council members parroting calls to “defund” the NYPD were just a year ago pushing Mayor Bill de Blasio to give city cops a big pay hike. It’s a reminder that New York’s elected officials, no matter how principled, routinely don’t want to say “no” to public-sector unions. Read More
New York school districts are seeking voter approval of budgets that would raise their per-pupil spending by an average of more than four times the projected inflation rate. Most districts have proposed property tax hikes as high as the maximum allowed without supermajority overrides under the tax cap law. Read More
In the wake of George Floyd's death under a kneeling Minneapolis police officer, some New York State lawmakers are renewing calls for legislation designed to uncover police disciplinary records. But less than a year ago, state senators in both parties voted in favor of union-backed legislation that would make it harder to fire New York police officers credibly accused of using excessive force or other offenses. Read More
All but a few states imposed business lockdowns and "stay at home" orders in April. However, New York's private-sector job losses were well beyond the national norm—indicating the Empire State's economic recovery could lag behind the rest of the country. Read More
As if the coronavirus hadn’t done enough to disrupt education in New York, Governor Cuomo has injected even more confusion and uncertainty into the public school budgeting and board selection process across the state. Read More
Payroll for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) in calendar year 2019 increased by more than $150 million, according to data released today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
On April 2, with New York’s COVID-19 curve still rising ominously, state lawmakers wrapped up a budget almost unchanged from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pre-pandemic January proposal. With the economy in a coma and revenues crashing, the plan obviously was awash in red ink. Read More