The Municipal Market Advisors research shop says today that in Minnesota and Colorado upholding states' rights to reduce cost-of-living pension increases for current retirees could affect municipal credit quality. Read More
Latest
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — the shared responsibility of elected officials in two states, with no direct accountability to taxpayers — is among the most generous of the region’s large public-sector employers, as reflected in payroll records posted today at www.SeethroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. The new data include names, titles, locations, base pay and total pay received for those employees. Read More
If you haven't read much about the details of the "mandate relief" provisions approved by the Legislature as the session ended last week, there's a good reason for it: virtually none of the relief priorities cited by the state's major local government groups were included. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law an omnibus bill ( of the Laws of 2011) including a cap on local property taxes in all jurisdictions outside New York City. The bill was passed on Friday, June 24, during the final hours of the legislati Read More
... 'cuz they're doing Mayor Bloomberg's job as well as their own (and the mayor gets paid $1 a year). Some background: Michael Mulgrew and Lillian Roberts head up New York City's United Federation of Teachers and the city's largest civilian union Read More
Saturday's New York Times that Governor Andrew Cuomo is "likely" to veto a bill allowing school districts to issue 15-year bonds to cover the same rising teacher pension costs that have been partially excluded from a newly enacted property Read More
A bid to gut Cuomo’s tax cap The passage of a 2 percent cap on local property-tax growth in New York should have been the crowning achievement of Gov. Cuomo’s first legislative session -- complementing an austere budget to set a more fiscally responsible tone for the Empire State. Read More
The New York State Assembly this evening followed the Senate' lead in passing a that would undermine a property tax cap while generating more risk for taxpayers — but a leading State Capitol reporter has that Governor Cuomo's "quick comment" o Read More