The Empire Center for Public Policy, a non-partisan think tank based in Albany, has added two staff members, the Center’s president, Edmund J. McMahon, today announced. Kimberlee Peabody will join the Empire Center as development manager, overseeing and implementing the organization’s fund-raising plans. David Lombardo will be the Empire Center’s communications manager, working on special research projects and providing general editorial support as well as handling media relations. Read More
Press Releases
The Empire Center’s Explore Your State Budget app has been updated to reflect the state’s mid-year financial report for fiscal 2014. This online database of New York state budget information, which is accessible through the Center’s SeeThroughNY website, includes actual results, estimates and projections for major spending and tax categories from 2012 until fiscal 2017. Additionally, the tool contains annual disbursements dating back to 1984 and tax receipts since 1976. Read More
Governor Cuomo has projected that maintaining a 2 percent cap on annual growth in state expenditures could lead to a budget surplus of up to $2.9 billion by fiscal year 2017. The key question, in his words, is “how do you use this period of growth to actually increase the economic competitiveness of the state of New York?” Based on our analysis of New York’s state and local tax structure, that question could be answered by addressing the following five initial tax policy priorities, which would not only make New York more business-friendly, but would reduce the high tax burden on all New York residents Read More
New York's State Legislature spent over $102 million during the six-month period ending last March, according to the latest legislative expenditure data posted at SeeThroughNY. The expenditure information, which goes back to 2007, can be sorted by reporting period, expenditure type, and member name. Users can also isolate spending for individual units of the Legislature's central staff. Read More
Earnings for the 384,186 school employees has been updated at SeeThroughNY. Read More
The Empire Center for Public Policy, which originated in 2005 as a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, has been re-launched as a fully independent, non-profit think tank, the Center’s president, E.J. McMahon, today announced. Read More
The state’s highest court yesterday agreed to hear the Empire Center’s appeal of lower court rulings that would keep secret the names of pension recipients. Read More
One out of every six police officers and firefighters retiring from state and local agencies outside New York City last year qualified for annual pensions of $100,000, according to state pension fund data posted today at SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More
What conditions are preventing upstate communities from experiencing a new wave of economic growth? That question will be addressed by Carl J. Schramm, an internationally recognized leader in the study of entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth, as keynote speaker at an Empire Center policy forum in Albany this Wednesday (June 5). The Empire Center forum, which starts with registration at 9 a.m. at the Albany Institute of History and Art, will examine the economic decline of the upstate region and prospects for its revival, including the possible gains from natural gas exploration. Read More
Average per-pupil spending under proposed 2013-14 school budgets will rise at the fastest rate in five years, according to an analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
Western New York property owners pay the state’s highest median effective tax rate, according to newly released data from the Empire Center. The internet-based tool—BenchmarkingNY’s Property Taxes by Location—allows taxpayers to compute and compare total school district, municipal and county tax burdens in thousands of communities across the state. Read More
The potential economic gains from natural gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale region in upstate New York are highlighted in a new study documenting the impact of hydrofracking on jobs and income growth in Pennsylvania, where nearly 5,000 wells have been hydrofractured since 2002. Read More