The $15-an-hour minimum wage proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo has enormous potential implications for labor markets and employer costs in many New York business sectors, especially upstate. Read More
Tag: Andrew Cuomo
The pork may be returning to the state budget. State lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo quietly have stashed away $1.2 billion for pet projects, and they are starting to spend it: about $187 million for 588 projects across New York, a report from the Empire Center, a watchdog group in Albany found. Read More
New York State’s $1 billion capital project slush fund is dispensing borrowed money across the state outside public scrutiny, but two local governments have inadvertently given New Yorkers a glimpse of its inner workings. Read More
The Cuomo administration and the state Legislature have begun dishing out grants from a secretive $1.1 billion capital slush fund—all of which will be borrowed money—with no disclosure of project sponsorship or award criteria. Read More
There’s more than one way to frack a shale formation, and that could be very good news for New York’s economically stagnant Southern Tier — if, this time, Gov. Cuomo allows it. Read More
The same day a report came out that partly attributed a rapid rise in M.T.A. costs to a union contract brokered by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Cuomo said he was "not in a position to say whether $800 million in overtime is a lot of money or a little money." Read More
Like mosquitoes in warm weather, schemes to boost the already generous pensions of state and local government workers return to Albany every year. Read More
The Mercatus Center at Virginia's George Mason University is out with a 50-state ranking that says New York State's "overall fiscal solvency" is among the worst in the nation. The new study suggests that New York's state government finances fall into the "poor" category—ranking 46th, or roughly about as messed up as those of New Jersey (49) and Illinois (50). Read More