In the decades since the state government was overseen by the late Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, "what we are experiencing now is unique in that we have fiscal strain at a time when the economy is fine," said E.J. McMahon, director of research for the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany think tank. Read More
Watchdogs like the Empire Center's Bill Hammond warned that they'd fuel Medicaid costs, yet Cuomo pushed for them anyway. Read More
“New Yorkers pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation,” according to the report from the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank in New York. Read More
“This governor has more authority under law now to control spending in a variety of ways, than any of his predecessors,” according to E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for State Policy. “He can unilaterally reduce payments to hospitals. He can impound aid in all forms.” Read More
Fiscal expert E.J. McMahon rightly credits Cuomo with holding down spending growth during his first two terms. But now the gov faces a mess of his own making — yet another sign that the “third term curse” is no mere superstition. Read More
The state released its mid-year budget update several weeks late. The state has a $6 billion budget gap that is estimated to climb to $8.5 billion by 2023. Both E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center and Dave Friedfel of the Citizens Budget Commission agree that Medicaid is to blame. Read More
The city's subways have historically been the NYPD's jurisdiction, making Cuomo's decision to deploy the new cops on subways and buses "really odd," the Empire Center's E.J. McMahon said. Read More
"This is the toughest budget that Cuomo has faced partly because he had bigger gaps when he took office, but he also had more political capital," said Bill Hammond of the fiscally conservative Empire Center. Read More