State lawmakers have not lost their appetite for pork. The Senate and Assembly have stuffed millions of dollars in pork-barrel-type spending into nonbinding budget resolutions adopted Thursday — despite the fact that that governors have not allowed new legislative “member items” in the budget since 2010. Read More
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the State Legislature are ensnarled in a fight behind closed doors that will shape not only this year's $149.9 billion budget, but the balance of power in Albany for years to come. Read More
This community in the Adirondack foothills has two churches, one diner, a museum of rural memorabilia, the only covered bridge in Saratoga County and the Plateau Sky Ranch, a private airport. It doesn’t have a bank or a pizzeria, and there are no doctors or dentists. There are no public water or sewer systems in its 60-square miles, and just 16 street lights. Edinburg, though, is where the low taxes are—the lowest rates for a town with its own school district in upstate New York. Read More
Ninety retired government workers and teachers statewide are eligible to collect more than $200,000 a year in pensions and more than a quarter of them worked on Long Island, state records show. In all, nearly 8,000 retirees statewide can collect in excess of $100,000 a year. Read More
E.J. McMahon, president of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy think tank, said, "Only in Nassau would a cap with a supposed limitations produce payouts of $500,000. Almost any place else in the country, this would leave people flabbergasted and shaking their heads." Read More
“It comes down to how you feel about the ends justifying the means,” says Albany watchdog E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy. “Think of the worst thing you can think of a governor trying to do, then picture him trying to do it through an appropriation bill.” Read More
"It's not surprising that they are looking to gut the cap," said E.J. McMahon, executive director of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany. "It's having a real effect on their spending patterns, and they don't like it." Read More
Members of the Business Council of Westchester visited Albany on Wednesday as part of a lobbying effort to reform laws the council believes are hurting the state. Read More