One in four Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) employees was paid more than $100,000 during 2014, according to payroll data added today to SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Press Releases
The Assembly paid $1.1 million to 130 members for costs related to “legislative duties” performed in Albany between April and September 2014, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center's transparency website. The data was released more than eight months after the end of the reporting period, an unusually long amount of time. Read More
State lawmakers have given a real boost to government transparency and the public's right to know by voting to speed up the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) process. Read More
New York City Fire Department (FDNY) pensions have averaged more than $100,000 for new retirees for the past seven years, according to data previously withheld by the pension fund and obtained by the Empire Center after a lengthy court battle. Read More
The state Assembly has not released expenditure reports, including per diems paid to lawmakers, for more than a year, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
A Westchester hospital executive was paid $1.85 million last year, the highest salary charted in the 10,357,902 payroll records on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Following the agency’s illegal refusal to turn over basic data, the Empire Center for Public Policy today filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Kings County against the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) over the Authority’s failure to follow the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Read More
A proposal to mandate the use of biodiesel in home heating oil in New York would raise consumer costs while reducing overall energy efficiency, according to a report jointly released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy and the Manhattan Institute. Read More
Per-pupil spending in the 669 school districts outside New York’s five largest cities will climb next year by 2.5 percent, nearly twice the projected inflation rate, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. The analysis indicates that school districts' per-pupil property tax levies will increase by 2.1 percent in 2015-16. Read More
In a ruling that favored the Empire Center's position, a state Supreme Court justice in Brooklyn today ordered the New York City Fire Pension Fund to release the names as well as pension amounts of its retirees. Read More
New York’s $142 billion budget, enacted on April 1, authorizes the state to spend $4,503 per second during its 2015-16 fiscal year, according to the Empire Center’s updated Spend-O-Meter. Read More
The New York State Senate spent $332,419 over a six-month period on offices vacated by two senators who had resigned, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More