Resolutions passed by state lawmakers in the final hours of the legislative session steered a total of $56 million to 1,675 pet projects across the state, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Residents of the small Western New York village of Sloan had the highest effective property tax rate in New York, paying $64.46 per $1,000 of home value during 2014, according to the newest edition of Benchmarking NY, the Empire Center’s annual examination of local property taxes. Read More
A breakdown of 271 projects totaling $49 million has been added to the Empire Center’s exclusive SeeThroughNY online database of items lined up for funding under the State and Municipal Facilities Program, a $1.5 billion pork slush fund supported by borrowed money. Read More
Current contracts and arbitration awards between 229 local governments and their uniformed police and fire employees have been added to SeeThroughNY, creating the first current statewide database of such contracts ever available to New York taxpayers. Read More
More than 500 people have sought and received permission to collect public pensions while being paid by state or local governments since 2015, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY. Read More
Fueled by an increase in state aid and higher property taxes, the 669 school districts subject to New York’s property tax levy cap plan to spend 2.8 percent more per student in 2016-17 than they did this year, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Per-pupil tax levies, meanwhile, would increase by an average of 1.3 percent. Read More
Longtime Albany reporter and commentator Bill Hammond has joined the Empire Center as director of health policy. Read More
New York needs to give Medicaid patients more incentives to take better care of their own health, according to a report released today by the Empire Center. Read More