What does 2016 have in store for New York State?

Much of our attention will no doubt be focused on the same general issues that preoccupied us in 2015 — issues such as the economy, taxes, government wages and pensions, population shifts and pork barrel spending.

And so, with best wishes to all for a Happy New Year, here’s a last look back at the Empire Center’s web traffic highlights for the year just ended — including updates to our popular government transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.

The 5 most popular EmpireCenter.org pages in 2015:

• Higher Pay, Fewer Jobs – Video features and articles explaining what’s at stake for New York in the proposal to jack up the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour.
• The Empire Center’s Pension Calculator – We’ve made it simple to estimate the retirement income for a state and local government worker and to see what it would cost a private-sector worker to buy an equivalent annuity in the open market.
• New Yorkers Keep Heading for Exits – People are the Empire State’s leading, priceless export.
• Albany’s Secretive Slush Fund – Our NYTorch.com blog post that blew the whistle on the evolution of the $1.1 billion State and Municipal Facilities Program.
• What They Make—2015 Edition – The Empire Center’s unique annual compendium of average pay for every county, city, town and village government in New York State.

The 5 most popular SeeThroughNY releases in 2015:

• NYS Payroll (NYS payroll data)
• NYC Pension (Pension data)
• School Pay (Schools payroll data)
• Port Authority Pay (Port Authority payroll data)
• MTA Payroll (MTA payroll data)