Category: Blog

State Medicaid spending dropped to nearly zero in March as the Cuomo administration again delayed payments to balance the state's books. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's cash report for March, posted on Wednesday, showed just $9.2 million in Medicaid disbursements. The state's share of Medicaid spending averages almost $2 billion per month. The comptroller's numbers reflect so-called Department of Health Medicaid, which covers the bulk of the program but excludes most spending on recipients with mental disabilities. Read More

#NYCoronavirus: It's increasingly apparent that New York is suffering more severely from the coronavirus pandemic than any other part of the U.S. and most of the rest of the world – raising stark questions for city and state leaders. What is it about New York, and especially New York City, that made it especially vulnerable to infection and death? And how can that be changed before the next virus breaks loose? Read More

#NYCoronavirus: With this year's tax return filing date push postponed to mid-July in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Cuomo has revived his old complaints about the TCJA's $10,000 cap on itemized state and local tax (SALT) deductions. But under the circumstances—a crashing economy and exploding federal deficits—his case for restoring SALT is even weaker than it was before the crisis. Indeed, it verges on preposterous. Read More

#NYCoronavirus: The Cuomo administration is about to begin running up charges on that $11 billion credit card the Legislature handed the governor in the new budget. Under the budget's the Education, Labor and Family Assistance budget bill, Cuomo is authorized to borrow up to $11 billion this year in the form of up to $8 billion in bond anticipation notes (BANs) and $3 billion from “line of credit facilities and other similar revolving financing arrangements.” Read More

#NYCoronavirus: Governor Cuomo is invoking his "emergency" powers to unilaterally defer a 2 percent pay hike otherwise scheduled for most unionized state government workers during the new fiscal year. Read More

#NYCoronavirus: Downstate New Yorkers are three times more likely than upstaters to have been tested for Covid-19 – and four times more likely to have been positive when checked. Read More

#NYCoronavirus: The coronavirus pandemic has been an acid test for government, revealing bureaucratic incompetencies, unnecessary regulations—and, in Albany, an agency that has failed to perform one of its central functions. Read More

#NYCoronavirus: The state Health Department released additional coronavirus data that gives a clearer picture of which counties and age groups have been hardest hit by the pandemic so far. Read More