The headlines surrounding this week’s New York City budget naturally focused on #DefundthePolice demands. But for all its larger potential implications for New Yorkers’ security and quality of life, the partially illusory $1 billion “cut” in the New York Police Department budget was a sideshow in fiscal terms. Read More
New York is finally ahead of the coronavirus, but its outbreak stands as a world-wide horror story. A sophisticated city was caught unprepared and suffered some of the worst levels of infection and death. The need for an investigation is clear. The harder question is who can credibly take the lead. Read More
A temporary freeze on scheduled pay hikes for state government employees (apparently) will continue through September while Governor Cuomo continues to count on aid from Washington to cope with the pandemic-induced economic and fiscal crisis. But the governor's administrative deferral of pay hikes still falls well short of what the governor can and should propose to save money and minimize layoffs. Read More
The vacancy rate in New York's nursing homes has more than doubled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that the death toll among residents may be thousands higher than officially reported. Read More
Employee overtime at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) decreased by more than $100 million last year, according to payroll data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. But while the $1.24 billion in overtime was 8 percent below the 2018 record level of $1.35 billion, it was still 46 percent higher than in 2014. Read More
A federal appellate court has upheld a state-imposed freeze on pay increases for Nassau County employees—reaffirming the Legislature’s power to grant similar much-needed budgetary relief to every level of government in New York to help deal with the severe post-pandemic fiscal crisis. Read More
Personal income growth in New York nearly flatlined in the first quarter of this year, reflecting the start of the economic shutdown triggered by the coronavirus crisis, according to data released today by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Read More
Unlike its rapidly improving COVID-19 case numbers, New York's economic recovery began at a painfully slow rate during the normally buoyant month of May. Read More