More than 1,000 retired New York State school teachers and administrators are entitled to annual pensions of more than $100,000, according to pension data posted today on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website. The new database from the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) includes name, benefit rate, retirement date and last known employer when available, for 134,796 people collecting pensions in 2009. Read More
Press Releases
Property taxes per pupil would rise by nearly twice the rate of inflation under proposed school districts budgets that will go to voters around New York State in two weeks, according to an analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
The state Legislature has the power to impose a temporary freeze on the collectively bargained wages and “step” increments of public employees in New York to help deal with a severe fiscal crisis, according to a legal opinion released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
All 59 of the public retirement systems covering most teachers in the United States—including both of New York’s—face pension obligations far greater than they admit, according to a newly issued study from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the Foundation for Educational Choice. The study estimates the total unfunded liabilities of the nation’s teacher plans at $933 billion, nearly three times the officially acknowledged shortfall, including a funding gap of more than $60 billion in the two New York systems. Read More
Payroll records for 7,449 employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have been posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency web site for taxpayers. The new data includes names, titles, locations, base pay rates and total pay received for those employees in 2009. Read More
Updated payroll files for Public Authorities have been posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency web site for taxpayers. The new data includes names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received for the 59,979 public authority employees added today. Read More
Office expenditures of individual state Senators and Assembly members for the six months ending September 30, 2009, the latest period for which data are available, have been posted in a searchable format on the Empire Center’s government transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. Read More
New Yorkers today can search the complete 2009 state government payroll on SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website. The updated database includes names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by the 298,247 people who worked in the state’s executive, legislative or judicial branches at any point last year. Read More
Professional payrolls continued expanding in New York State school districts outside New York City last year, according to data posted today on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
Office expenditures of individual state Senators and Assembly members for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 have been posted in a searchable format on the Empire Center’s government transparency web site, SeeThroughNY.net. Read More
The only proven route to long-term and lasting property-tax relief in New York is property-tax limitation - such as capping the annual growth in school-tax levies, Empire Center for Public Policy Director E.J. McMahon said in testimony today before state Assembly lawmakers. Read More
A comprehensive strategy for addressing New York State’s fiscal crisis, including a 30-point plan to save the state up to $30 billion over three years, was released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More