Western New York property owners pay the state’s highest median effective tax rate, according to newly released data from the Empire Center. The internet-based tool—BenchmarkingNY’s Property Taxes by Location—allows taxpayers to compute and compare total school district, municipal and county tax burdens in thousands of communities across the state. Read More
Average per-pupil spending under proposed 2013-14 school budgets will rise at the fastest rate in five years, according to an analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
What conditions are preventing upstate communities from experiencing a new wave of economic growth? That question will be addressed by Carl J. Schramm, an internationally recognized leader in the study of entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth, as keynote speaker at an Empire Center policy forum in Albany this Wednesday (June 5). The Empire Center forum, which starts with registration at 9 a.m. at the Albany Institute of History and Art, will examine the economic decline of the upstate region and prospects for its revival, including the possible gains from natural gas exploration. Read More
A searchable database of the complete Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) payroll for 2008–including name, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by 78,393 employees–is now available at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More