Longtime Albany reporter and commentator Bill Hammond has joined the Empire Center as director of health policy. Read More
Press Releases
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
Taxpayers continued shouldering costs for Sheldon Silver’s legal defense in the months after he stepped down as Assembly speaker, according to the latest Senate and Assembly expenditure data added to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Pension payments to 78,523 New York City public school and City University of New York retirees were added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center's transparency website. Read More
Pensions averaged $67,476 for teachers and other professionals who retired in 2014-15 after working at least 30 years in New York State public schools, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
The New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS) must provide the Empire Center with names and amounts of pensions paid to retired New York City uniformed employees, such as corrections officers, a Kings County Supreme Court judge ruled today. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to spend $340 million in budget windfall cash on a temporary state tax rebate of Thruway tolls is “an indefensible gimmick,” E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, testified today at a Joint Legislative Budget Hearing in Albany. Read More
The complete 2015 New York state government payroll is now posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More