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The redoubtable Larry Littlefield has boiled down the latest U.S. census data on local government employment into a handy spreadsheet with a regional breakdown showing the extent to which New York exceeds national averages in this category.  His Roo Read More

Mayor Bloomberg will seek to revive New York City's commuter tax, his budget director the City Council yesterday.  First enacted in 1966, the tax was repealed by the state Legislature and then-Governor Pataki in 1999, over the loud objections of ci Read More

 But New York City, which Mayor Bloomberg once likened to a "," will do the opposite if it follows through with the mayor's idea to raise income and sales taxes early next year. Read More

The cost of New York State's Medicaid program, which already spends twice as much per recipient as the national average, will still be rising at a double-digit pace if the Legislature enacts the latest round of mid-year "cuts" proposed by Governor Pa Read More

The most noteworthy aspect of Gov. Pater son's news conference yesterday wasn't the detailed breakdown of his $2 billion in proposed changes to close a projected shortfall in the current state budget. Read More

"The current global financial market crisis could have serious implications for New York’s local governments if access to the credit markets remains constrained," says a issued today by the office of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Read More