More than 500 people have sought and received permission to collect public pensions while being paid by state or local governments since 2015, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY. Read More
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Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli just issued a set of fiscal reform proposals designed to address the continuing lack of accountability and transparency in key areas of New York's budget. While by no means representing a fiscal panacea, they are solid ideas, deserving of broad public and legislative support. Read More
Albany’s practice of doling out millions in “bullet aid” to certain school districts at the behest of favored legislators has become a familiar ritual of pork-barrel politics. But a little-noticed provision of this year’s budget directs $30 million to a single nursing home in the Bronx, which is unusual even by the standards of New York State government. Read More
New York's 2 percent local property tax levy cap has passed another important legal test, prevailing in the state's mid-level appeals court over a constitutional challenge from the state's largest teachers' union. Read More
Fueled by an increase in state aid and higher property taxes, the 669 school districts subject to New York’s property tax levy cap plan to spend 2.8 percent more per student in 2016-17 than they did this year, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Per-pupil tax levies, meanwhile, would increase by an average of 1.3 percent. Read More
Governor Cuomo’s $15 minimum wage plan will cost the state’s Medicaid program more than $100 million over the next two years, according to figures in a budget analysis released Wednesday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Read More
START-UP New York was launched in 2013. It's designed to provide incentives for young companies to start or expand their business on or near college campuses, and provides tax incentives to businesses. Read More
Longtime Albany reporter and commentator Bill Hammond has joined the Empire Center as director of health policy. Read More