Nearly half of the 669 school districts seeking voter approval for budgets on Tuesday, May 16 are presenting spending plans that call for increasing property taxes as high as the 2011 property tax cap law allows, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. [Read_more]
Eight employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) were paid more than $200,000 in overtime last year, part of a general surge in MTA overtime in 2016, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. [Read_more]
The cost of publicly funded construction projects in New York is inflated up to 25 percent by the state’s outdated “prevailing wage” mandate, which requires contractors to pay workers the amounts required by union collective bargaining agreements, according to a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. [Read_more]
New York’s $163 billion budget, enacted on April 9, authorizes the state to spend at a rate of $5,169 per second during its 2017-18 fiscal year, according to the Empire Center’s updated Spend-O-Meter. [Read_more]
Port Authority of NY and NJ police department employees collected an average of $34,662 in overtime during 2016, up from $29,931 the year before, according to payroll data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. [Read_more]
Federal “block-granting” of Medicaid could have outcomes ranging from a multi-billion dollar gain to a multi-billion loss for New York’s $63 billion program, depending on how such a reform is designed, according to an analysis by the Empire Center’s health policy director, Bill Hammond. [Read_more]
A total of 270 new police, fire, teacher and superintendent contracts were uploaded today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. [Read_more]
State lawmakers spent $7 million on postage for bulk mailings to constituents between April 1 and September 30, 2016, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. [Read_more]
Pensions averaged $68,334 for teachers and other professionals who retired in school year 2015-16 after working at least 30 years in New York State public schools. [Read_more]
The Empire Center’s unique online “Explore Your State Budget” app has been updated to reflect data in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed Executive Budget for the 2018 fiscal year, which begins April 1. [Read_more]
The Empire Center today released “Checklist for Change,” a 36-page summary of reforms needed to promote renewed economic growth and competitiveness for New York State. [Read_more]
The city of New York has been ordered to pay the legal costs and fees to the Empire Center for Public Policy in connection with the Center’s successful effort to obtain city payroll data under the state Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). [Read_more]
