Category: Press Releases

All 59 of the public retirement systems covering most teachers in the United States—including both of New York’s—face pension obligations far greater than they admit, according to a newly issued study from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the Foundation for Educational Choice. The study estimates the total unfunded liabilities of the nation’s teacher plans at $933 billion, nearly three times the officially acknowledged shortfall, including a funding gap of more than $60 billion in the two New York systems. Read More

The state Legislature has the power to impose a temporary freeze on the collectively bargained wages and “step” increments of public employees in New York to help deal with a severe fiscal crisis, according to a legal opinion released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Property taxes per pupil would rise by nearly twice the rate of inflation under proposed school districts budgets that will go to voters around New York State in two weeks, according to an analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

More than 1,000 retired New York State school teachers and administrators are entitled to annual pensions of more than $100,000, according to pension data posted today on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website. The new database from the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) includes name, benefit rate, retirement date and last known employer when available, for 134,796 people collecting pensions in 2009. Read More

Updated school labor contracts for 71 teacher unions and 62 school superintendents were posted today on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More

A searchable database of the complete Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) payroll for 2009 – including names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by 74,708 individuals – shows an increase of 2.4 percent in the average total pay of MTA employees last year. Read More

A searchable database of pension allowances for 342,543 retired New York state and local government employees was posted today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Read More

New York City and other government entities should begin to “proactively” disclose payrolls, expenditure information and other public records on the Internet, according to testimony before the City Council today by Tim Hoefer, operations director of the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More