New York State is in the process of collecting more than $5 $6 billion in fines and penalties from financial institutions accused of violating state or federal laws.* What should the state do with this unprecedented windfall? That's Read More
Month: October 2014
New York’s state legislators would like a raise, but a review of state payroll data shows that more than three-quarters of them already earn more than their frequently cited $79,500 statutory base salary. Read More
According to Chris Ward, the former executive director of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, transportation planners searching for ways to plug multi-billion dollar holes in their capital plans need to think about cell phones. Read More
On John Gambling's radio show this morning, Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos reiterated his warning that President Obama's executive order on immigration could cost the state as much as $2 billion. “Our estimates are conservative,” Skelos said. But Skelos' numbers, which he has used to warn of potential cuts to other programs, appear to present a worst-case scenario for the state budget from the president's order, which could add thousands of previously undocumented immigrants to the state's Medicaid rolls. Read More
Four years ago, as Andrew Cuomo prepared to begin his first term as governor, the biggest problem facing New York state was how to close a $10 billion budget gap. This year, gearing up for his second term, Cuomo faces quite a different challenge: what to do with roughly $5 billion in extra cash. Read More
With the stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama has just put added pressure on the second-biggest category of New York’s state operating funds budget—Medicaid. Obama’s recent executive order on immigration could drive up New York’s Medicaid costs by $1.1 billion to $2 billion, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos warned in a letter yesterday to the state’s U.S. senators. Read More
New York State is increasingly driving away one of the most powerful economic assets to come along in generations — Baby Boomers in their retirement years. Read More
Long Island’s towns and cities paid their workforce less in 2013 than in 2012, with payrolls totaling $692 million — a 4.7 percent decline from $726.5 million the previous year, a Newsday database shows. Read More