Tim Hoefer

E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center on a segment of NY1's "Inside City Hall" last night. E.J. began by informing moderator Errol Lewis that Governor Cuomo's  with the Legislature involves a significant tax increase, not a tax cut. Read More

Reportedly, the terms of a tentative agreement between the teachers' union and board of education in Westchester's Bedford Central School District would do away with step increases for newly hired teachers. Read More

New York has the worst economic outlook of any state in the nation, according to the latest index of the economic competitiveness issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Read More

Governor David Paterson has proposed legislation to implement a cap on school property tax levies in New York State. His original tax cap bill was passed by the state Senate in August 2008, but died in the state Assembly. Paterson's latest tax cap proposal was submitted to the Legislature on July 30, 2010. Read More

On Aug. 3, the state Senate passed a bill containing nearly $800 million in tax hikes and other provisions that represent the final piece of the budget for the fiscal year that began April. Passage of the 2010-11 appropriation bills was completed by the Legislature June 28--after which Gov David Paterson vetoedthousands of line items, mainly legislative pork-barrel “member item” spending. Read More

Promoting better transparency and accountability in government is one of the Empire Center’s major, ongoing priorities. Read More

When the city of Troy asked its Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) employees to consider forgoing a 3.5 percent raise this year, a CSEA spokesperson said, "...we do not renegotiate our contracts. It's a moot point," ... Read More

New York's public-sector employees have been promised $205 billion in post-retirement health benefits that the state and its local governments have set aside no money to pay for, a new Empire Center report found. Read More