New York’s Legislature should avoid adding any tax increases to the proposed 2011-12 state budget, E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy testified today before the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees. Read More
Category: Press Releases
Mandate relief priorities to help local governments and school districts cope with failing revenues and a proposed tax cap were outlined today in state Senate testimony by E.J. McMahon, senior fellow at the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed cap on property taxes is justified in light of New York State’s exceptionally heavy property tax burden, according to a report released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
The cost of financing long-term care (LTC) through Medicaid is on track to become “a crippling burden” for New York State unless steps are taken to reform the program, a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy warns. Read More
New York’s State Legislature spent $114 million during the six-month period ending last September, according to the latest legislative expenditure data posted at SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. SeeThroughNY now includes four full years of legislative expenditures, in what has become the most extensive searchable database of its kind available to New Yorkers on the Internet. Read More
“Proactive disclosure” of public information on the Internet is the next logical step in the evolution of government transparency, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, which today released model legislation to make it a reality. Read More
New Yorkers today can search the complete 2010 state government payroll on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The database includes, names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by the 273,983 people who worked in the state’s executive, legislative or judicial branches at any point last year. Read More
The New York City Police Pension Fund had no legal basis for refusing last year to release the names of retired police officers in response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request from the Empire Center, according to an appellate brief filed by the Center this week. Read More