Fund public employees' pensions upfront, and make them contribute.. Read More
Category: Media Coverage
ALBANY Despite a ballooning budget deficit and a months-long hiring freeze, the state government added hundreds of six-figure employees last year, an Albany-based think tank reported yesterday. In 2008, state agencies added 232 employees with base Read More
Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday ordered layoffs that could total about 4% of state workers after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn that was projected to push the state's deficit to $16 billion in the next year. Budget D Read More
The entire New York state 2008 government payroll is now online. On Monday, the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, posted state payroll data on its government transparency Web s Read More
State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, called to talk about last week’s notebook item on his recent stand against the New York Power Authority. While I suggested the senator has been more vocal about authority issues since Democrats took control Read More
While the area’s state legislators are up in arms over the 2009-10 budget supported by Democrats, one talked-about set of costs — member items, or pork — dropped for the Southern Tier in the proposed budget despite a $10 billion increase in spe Read More
Albany Democrats who once promised reform cast it aside in the most secretive budget process in years. They crafted a $131.8 billion spending plan that relies on federal stimulus spending and nearly $7 billion a year in new taxes and fees to close a Read More
New York’s higher tax rates, proposed in the state budget plan, would apply to wealthier residents’ total taxable income, not just the amount exceeding their tax bracket threshold, as state officials have said. The $131.8 billion budget agreem Read More