Press Releases

The Empire Center today released the newest edition of What They Make, its annual examination of local government payrolls. “What They Make lets taxpayers see how their local governments’ payrolls stack up,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center. “Big differences exist, even between neighboring communities, and taxpayers have a right to ask their elected officials why.” Read More

Just in time for the start of another school year, the Empire Center has updated its comprehensive SeeThroughNY database of teacher union contracts for school districts across New York State. Read More

The number of retirees receiving pensions over $100,000 from the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) exceeded 3,000 for the first time during the system’s 2016 fiscal year, according to data uploaded today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Hundreds of New York City government employees more than doubled their pay with overtime during the city’s 2016 fiscal year, according to the latest payroll data added to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

The Empire Center has updated its June report that ranked 2014 property taxes with 2015 data recently released by the state comptroller's office. Read More

New York City firefighters and fire officers who retired during the 2016 fiscal year were eligible for average pensions of $119,863, a 6 percent increase over the previous year, according to data gleaned from 15,557 Fire Department pension records updated today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Claims that a state-run single-payer health care system would save money do not add up, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Payroll data for 74,988 public authority employees, totaling $4.1 billion, have been added to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Resolutions passed by state lawmakers in the final hours of the legislative session steered a total of $56 million to 1,675 pet projects across the state, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Residents of the small Western New York village of Sloan had the highest effective property tax rate in New York, paying $64.46 per $1,000 of home value during 2014, according to the newest edition of Benchmarking NY, the Empire Center’s annual examination of local property taxes. Read More

A breakdown of 271 projects totaling $49 million has been added to the Empire Center’s exclusive SeeThroughNY online database of items lined up for funding under the State and Municipal Facilities Program, a $1.5 billion pork slush fund supported by borrowed money. Read More

Current contracts and arbitration awards between 229 local governments and their uniformed police and fire employees have been added to SeeThroughNY, creating the first current statewide database of such contracts ever available to New York taxpayers. Read More