Press Releases

Residents of the Western New York village of Sloan had the highest effective property tax rate in New York (outside New York City and Nassau), according to Benchmarking NY, the Empire Center’s annual rundown of local property tax burdens. Read More

The Empire Center for Public Policy will honor the late former Governor Hugh L. Carey with a policy forum series devoted to issues in New York State government. Read More

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) employees were paid an average of $100,302 last year, according to data released today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Overtime payments jumped nearly 16 percent last year at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), fueling agency-wide average pay hikes of 6 percent, according to newly posted payroll records at SeeThroughNY.net. The increase in MTA payroll costs for 2018 alone was $418 million—$82 million more than the authority expects to raise annually from its latest round of fare, ticket and toll hikes. Read More

The Empire Center for Public Policy this week filed Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) appeals with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) after six of its seven subsidiaries failed to release public payroll records. Read More

The Empire Center has updated its online Spend-O-Meter to reflect the record size of New York’s newly enacted $175.5 billion budget for fiscal 2020. Read More

The impending enactment of a permanent property tax levy cap in New York is a truly historic moment. Since its founding in 2005, the Empire Center has identified a broad cap on property tax levies as a top policy priority. Read More

Complete copies of 220 local government and school district labor union contracts were added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Revenue for New York’s hospitals increased by $14 billion from 2012 to 2016, according to an Empire Center research and data bulletin released today. Read More

State lawmakers spent $7.8 million on postage for campaign-style mailings to constituents in the six-month run-up to last year’s elections, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Maximum pension benefits averaged $68,902 for the 2,598 members of the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) who retired last year with at least 30 years of credited service time, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

The complete 2018 New York State government payroll is now posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More