Category: Media Coverage

In 2011, Cuomo decided to cap growth in education spending at the rate of New Yorkers' personal income growth, and he cut state aid accordingly for the 2011-12 school year by $1.3 billion. In 2012-13, personal income grew about four percent, and Cuomo and the Legislature awarded an $800 million increase, the maximum allowed under the cap. “The cap is not real. I don't think the cap is ever going to be real again,” said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank. “I don't think it ever was binding. I think it was a convenient pretext in the governor's first couple of years and increasingly is going to be disregarded.” Read More

New York's State Environmental Quality Review needs to be reformed to reduce costly delays in the process for approving development projects, according to a report released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. "SEQR adds an unnecessary layer of red tape to environmental regulations and local land-use laws, discouraging development that New York needs to promote a strong and growing economy," said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, who co-authored the report with Michael Wright, a senior policy analyst at the Albany-based policy research organization. Read More

A conservative think tank has proposed a more strict time limit for the state's environmental review system, recommending the approval process be completed within 300 days. The Empire Center for New York State Policy included the recommendation in a report on Monday detailing ways the New York’s State Environmental Quality Review can be streamlined to reduce delays on development projects. Read More

A report issued last week by one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's two tax commissions has rekindled debate regarding taxes in the Empire State. Former Gov. George Pataki and former state Comptroller Carl McCall headed the commission. E. J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, praised the report's recommendation the state cut the top estate-tax rate and raise the taxable estate threshold to federal levels. "The Empire State would remain one of a very few jurisdictions still imposing any death tax, but it would at least take a smaller bite out of fewer estates," he said in comments published in the New York Post. Read More

Major residential, commercial and industrial developments throughout the country are subject to an array of federal and state laws designed to protect the environment. They're buttressed nearly everywhere by local land-use regulations addressing the community impacts of such projects. In New York, these regulations are wrapped in the added red tape of the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Read More

One month after the sudden departure of its superintendent and high school principal, the Cassadaga Valley Central School District has disclosed the terms of agreements with its former administrators. Read More

In the realm of education, the best place to be from a financial standpoint is in an administrative role. According to information gathered from SeeThroughNY, superintendents are the highest paid employees in 15 of 18 Chautauqua County school districts as of this year - with other high-ranking positions rounding out the rest. Read More

Most members of law enforcement agree they don’t do their job for money. Instead, they often find person reasons to be satisfied in their public service role. Yet not every department pays its officers the same in the Mohawk Valley, and that difference can occasionally lead to discouragement and frustration among the lower-paid departments. Read More