Local governments in New York are preparing their budgets for the new year facing a strain from state-mandated costs and pressure to comply with a property-tax-rebate program. Read More
Category: Media Coverage
Only a week after an Empire Center for Public Policy report gave many municipal websites a failing grade, New York state unveiled a new site of its own. Read More
The nearly $4 billion Tappan Zee bridge replacement project will almost certainly double the $5 toll currently charged on the existing bridge by 2019, a government finance expert warned Wednesday. Read More
State lawmakers say they want to act quickly to spend the state’s $5 billion dollar and growing surplus on an infrastructure fund to fix up roads and bridges, among other things. At a conference on the state’s infrastructure, sponsored by a think tank, participants said there are deep needs, and they warn lawmakers not to spend the money frivolously. Read More
While state officials have been purposefully tight-lipped about how replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge may impact its $5 toll—or tolls across the state's Thruway system—one fiscal analyst is confident they will reach double digits. Read More
It didn’t seem to surprise some local officials that their municipality’s website got a failing grade on a recent report card. Read More
Retirement hasn’t stopped 665 public employees from drawing government paychecks in addition to their pensions, a new report found. The double-dipping retirees all received a waiver that allowed them to take another government job while still receiving their pensions, according to the report from The Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank. Read More
More than 650 retired state and local government workers collecting a pension have also been authorized to earn a public salary before they're 65, according to a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Ten Nassau County employees and eight Suffolk County employees, mostly investigators in the district attorneys' offices, have received waivers from the state to go back to work, or "double dip," according to the database compiled by the nonprofit advocacy group. About three dozen other waivers to the state retirement law were granted for Long Island police departments, towns, and school districts. Read More