The number of teachers and other educational professionals paid more than $100,000 by school districts outside New York City climbed to 49,834 last year, according to payroll data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Still betting far too heavily on the stock market, New York State's main state and local government pension fund lost money in the first half of its current fiscal year. Read More
As part of his ongoing push for a statewide $15 minimum wage, Governor Andrew Cuomo repeatedly has denounced what he calls “the mother of all corporate loopholes.” In Buffalo this week, he amped up his rhetoric, reportedly charging that “business is stealing from taxpayers of this state.” Cuomo wasn’t referring to any of the notable business tax giveaways he has personally promoted, such as the $420 million a year the state doles out to wealthy film and TV producers, or the state's $750 million speculative investment in billionaire Elon Musk’s solar panel factory in Buffalo, or the 100 percent tax exemptions that will flow to the handpicked corporate occupants of START-UP NY zones. Read More
Gov. Cuomo has called for the closure of the Indian Point nuclear plant, but hasn't released a plan to replace the electricity it generates. Read More
One of New York State's highly touted high-tech "investments" just shorted out. General Electric announced today it is pulling the plug on its Durathon battery project, which is manufactured by a Schenectady-based subsidiary, GEMx Technologies. The project, which for a time employed more than 350 people, was awarded $12.5 million in "JOBS Now" capital funding from the state Empire State Development Corp. in 2013. Read More
Starting next year, New York's state government plans to (finally) stop deferring a portion of its annual required pension payments—but over the next 10 years, it will still have to repay $3.3 billion it owes on pension fund borrowings since fiscal 2011. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo wants New York to be become the first state in the nation to mandate a minimum wage of $15 an hour—more than double the federal minimum. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour would cost New York between 200,000 and 588,800 jobs, according a report released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More