Category: Media Coverage

But will New York actually have the money that it’s promising schools? E.J. McMahon, founder and research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, scoffed at the aid figures distributed on Wednesday, saying he doubted the state could afford them without a federal bailout or long-term borrowing. Read More

Although the state is trying to keep total school aid in line with last year's, with a slight increase of nearly $100 million for total aid to school districts at $27.4 billion, New York saves about $1.2 billion by using federal aid to alleviate costs, said E.J. McMahon, founder and research director of Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank based in Albany. Read More

“It’s made up on the fly,” said the Empire Center think tank's E.J. McMahon, who has spent decades analyzing state budgets. “It really sounds contrived … They can’t possibly spend what Cuomo proposed unless they get a federal bailout,” he said. “The tactic is that this budget is balanced as long as the federal government gives them $10 billion. What?” Read More

The budget authorizes borrowing an extra $11 billion to help cover the state's costs and lost revenues, including $8 billion to account for the state and federal government pushing its income-tax filing deadline from April to July, according to the Empire Center, an Albany-based think tank. Read More

“We are at the early stages of what shapes up as the biggest state and city fiscal crisis since the Great Depression,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center. “Borrowing and short-term cuts aside, the budget doesn’t chart any clear path out of it.” Read More

In other words, the state could very well borrow the whole $11 billion. And if it doesn’t get $11 billion back in the short term, the budget allows the debt to be repaid by issuing more debt in the form of 30-year bonds, according to an analysis by Empire Center’s E.J. McMahon. Read More