Press Releases

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

More than 500 people have sought and received permission to collect public pensions while being paid by state or local governments since 2015, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY. Read More

Fueled by an increase in state aid and higher property taxes, the 669 school districts subject to New York’s property tax levy cap plan to spend 2.8 percent more per student in 2016-17 than they did this year, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Per-pupil tax levies, meanwhile, would increase by an average of 1.3 percent. Read More

Longtime Albany reporter and commentator Bill Hammond has joined the Empire Center as director of health policy. Read More

New York needs to give Medicaid patients more incentives to take better care of their own health, according to a report released today by the Empire Center. Read More

New York’s $156 billion budget, enacted on April 1, authorizes the state to spend $4,947 per second during its 2016-17 fiscal year, according to the Empire Center’s updated Spend-O-Meter. Read More

The average Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) employee was paid $100,253 during 2015, up from $97,673 in 2014, according to the latest data added to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Hundreds of updated school district teacher union contracts, along with the latest employment agreements between school districts and their superintendents, were added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

Overtime spending by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rose 11 percent in 2015, making it possible for hundreds of employees to double their pay, according to payroll records added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More