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.
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALBANY, N.Y. — New Yorkers across political, geographic, age, and income groups oppose energy and climate policies that raise energy prices or force changes on homeowners, according to new Empire Center analysis Read More
Executive Summary
New York voters prioritize affordable energy and show limited support for energy and climate policies that could increase costs. The survey finds broad opposition to home-heating electrification and climate-related lawsuits aga Read More
Attorney General Letitia James' latest fight with the Trump administration focuses on New York's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a federally funded agency housed in James' office.
On T Read More
New York households are paying the fourth-highest electricity prices in the country, according to the Empire Center's In April 2026, residential electricity prices in New York averaged 29.45 cents per kilowatt-hour - 56 percent above the national average Read More
June 2026
Summary and Insights
Electricity. In March 2026, New York's average residential electricity price was 28.55 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). New York ranked 7th highest among the states and 50 percent above the Read More
Fourteen retired New York City educators received more than $500,000 in pension benefits in 2025, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
The data was obtained from the New York City Teachers’ Retirement Read More
The state financial plan published on June 10 disclosed key information about healthcare revenue and spending that lawmakers had not made public when approving the annual budget two weeks before.
Read More
The Empire Center's Bill Hammond today submitted written testimony for a congressional hearing on healthcare fraud.
Hammond's testimony to the focuses on evidence of overuse and wa Read More