Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s re-election bid is based on the assertion that he has “turned around” New York. However, the economic data pain a more mixed and muted picture of the state's recovery during his tenure. Read More
Category: Blog
After holding it for four months, the state Senate has just sent Governor Andrew Cuomo a bill that would add hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local pension costs by allowing public employees to claim pension service credit for time spent in peacetime military duty. Read More
The second of two Election Eve check-in-the-mailbox tax credit gimmicks concocted by state officials in Albany is unfolding this week. Most New York State homeowners outside New York City have received or are about to receive a payment equivalent to roughly 2 percent of their 2014-15 school property taxes—which will average roughly $60 upstate to $150 in downstate suburbs. This is on top of the $350 tax credit sent recently to families that had at least one child under 17 as of 2012. Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli likes to point out that he oversees one of the nation's best-funded public pension systems. That's true—although, given the competition, it's not nearly as impressive as it may sound. Read More
Is New York State abiding by the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn, which said that union fees cannot be collected from government-subsidized daycare providers who are not “full-fledged” public employees? Read More
Local school boards and superintendents “are all over the map on” Proposal 3, the ballot initiative that would let the state borrow $2 billion for distribution to schools that want to buy new computers and build pre-kindergarten classrooms. So says Dr. Merryl H. Tisch—and as chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, she ought to know. Read More
In a resounding win for Governor Andrew Cuomo and for property owners across New York, a state Supreme Court justice in Albany has dismissed a teachers' union lawsuit that sought to invalidate New York State's property tax cap on constitutional grounds. Read More
The New York City region, including Long Island and the Hudson Valley, accounted for 94 percent of the net new private-sector jobs created in New York State during the 12 month period ending in August, according to the state Labor Department's latest monthly jobs report. On a year-to-year basis, New York's statewide job creation rate of 1.9 percent trailed the national private job creation rate of 2.1 percent. New York matched the (painfully low) 0.1 percent national private job growth rate on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis. Read More