Taxpayer-funded employer contributions to public pensions in New York State will rise by billions of dollars in the next few years, threatening to divert scarce resources from other essential public services in the midst of a fiscal crisis, according to a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
Public pension costs in New York are mushrooming—just when taxpayers can least afford it. Over the next five years, tax-funded annual contributions to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS) will more than quadruple, while contributions to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) will more than double, according to estimates presented in this report. Read More
Tax-funded employer contributions to New York’s state and local government pension funds are about to rise sharply. What will be the impact on budgets, taxes and public services? Are New York’s public pensions adequately funded? What can be done to curb pension expenses while fairly balancing the interests of taxpayers and employees? The presentation of a new Empire Center report answers these questions -- culminating in a keynote from a Utah state lawmaker who has been a national leader in state pension reform. Read More
State and local government employees in New York collect taxpayer-guaranteed pension benefits that are far more generous than those available to most private-sector workers. Use the articles and other resources available at New York's Pension Bomb to learn about the heavy costs of public pensions. Read More
Advocates of the misnamed “millionaire’s tax” enacted in New York State last year claimed that it would restore “fairness” to a tax code that favored the rich. Read More
The challenges confronting Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo won’t be limited to closing a state budget gap now estimated at between $9 billion and $11 billion. Cuomo and the Legislature will also need to respond to growing fiscal distress among New York’s local governments. Read More
E.J. McMahon spoke at Wagner College Read More
For all of Andrew Cuomo’s good intentions, Albany’s muck remains as deep as ever, with a projected 2010-11 state budget shortfall approaching $10 billion. But the fiscal quicksand needn’t swallow up the next Gov. Cuomo as it did the last one. Read More