Month: June 2019

A year after completing its replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge, and seven years after starting construction on the project, the state Thruway Authority has finally gotten around to proposing a schedule for raising the eastbound-only bridge toll. Read More

Our MTA payroll summary was only the second most-viewed SeeThroughNY news release of 2019. To find out which of  transparency postings got the most attention this year, scroll through the list of the 2019 Top 10 SeeThroughNY press releases. Read More

According to a recent report by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, the city’s $51.66 effective property tax rate ranks ninth in Western New York behind Cheektowaga in Erie County and the Allegany County municipalities of Wellsville, Andover, Alfred, Almond, Burns, Cuba and Alma. Jamestown’s effective tax rate is the highest in Chautauqua County. Read More

Relations between Pat Foye, who was picked by Cuomo to run the MTA in March, and Tony Utano, president of TWU Local 100, grew adversarial in the spring. In May, the agency briefly sent police officers to stake out agency timeclocks after the Empire Center for Public Policy published a report detailing a $418 million spike in overtime, a 16% rise over the previous year. Read More

E.J. McMahon, of the Empire Center for Public Policy, noted, "This is black and white evidence that they wasted $1.2 billion of taxpayer money." As for Governor Cuomo, he appears to be delusional. During a visit to Buffalo earlier this year, he told media outlets that he was satisfied with Solar City and that they were "ahead of schedule." Read More

The program, they charged, is nothing more than a way for the governor to enjoy the spotlight. “It’s a way for the governor to maximize his political gain,” said E.J. McMahon, research director for the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank based in Albany. Read More

A variety of factors can influence sales tax receipts, including tourism trends, weather-related events, the price of gasoline and fuel oil and whether consumers are spending on furniture and cars, said E.J. McMahon, research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany think tank. Read More