Tim Hoefer

President & CEO

Tim Hoefer is president and CEO of the Empire Center for Public Policy. He joined the Center in March 2008, and previously served as the Center’s director of operations and communications manager.

Hoefer’s work focuses on transparency, government reform and accountability. He has written several papers on those subjects, testified before local and statewide panels and authored various op-eds. His numerous interviews have been featured in print, radio and broadcast media throughout the state. Since its launch in July 2008, Hoefer has been the principal on the Center’s government transparency project, SeeThroughNY.net.

Before joining the Center, Hoefer worked in communications and public affairs with the New York State Senate and Assembly. He also has worked as a consultant for, and on, political campaigns, at the local, state and federal level.

Born and raised in Saratoga, he is a native New Yorker. Hoefer has a bachelor’s degree in government & politics from George Mason University and earned his master’s degree in public policy from New England College.

Latest Work

Freedom of Information Law needs to catch up to technology advances

In total, the state's multiple levels of government burn through more than $190 billion a year from their own revenue sources, mainly taxes. Another $60 billion comes the federal government - which has its own claim on our wallets. But where does it all go? Thanks to the digital revolution, anyone with access to the Internet can begin to find some answers to that question. Read More

Suffolk Police are doing OK

Despite the not-rosy fiscal status of the county, the Suffolk County Legislature approved the last outstanding contract for county police officers. (In January, Moody’s listed Suffolk County among the municipal bond issuers facing a credit rating downgrade.) Read More

Wow: MTA cops get 18% over 7 years

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has agreed to a seven-year contract that will give MTA cops base pay increases totaling 18 percent, including a 7.5 percent retroactive boost effective immediately, the Daily News reports. Union members also scored a boost in their longevity pay, which will rise to a maximum of $9,800, in exchange for agreeing to curb overtime, stretch-out the schedule of annual pay hikes for newly hired officers and make new recruits pay 2 percent of their salaries toward health insurance. Read More

Double-dipping in Suffolk County?

In 2011, Suffolk County passed a local law (Article I, Section 77-4) barring county elected officials from collecting two public-sector salaries. Now, however, County Executive Steve Bellone wants to change the law... Read More

Open Book enhanced

In 2008, around the time the Empire Center launched its transparency website SeeThroughNY, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli was moving on the same track with the creation of OpenBookNewYork. Read More

Spitzer as Gotham fiscal steward?

Former Governor Eliot Spitzer is making a last-minute bid to get on the Democratic primary ballot for New York City comptroller. But, writing in the Daily News, E.J. says Spitzer’s record as governor “raises serious questions of his suitability for this particular job.” Read More

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