Hizzoner cooked up something nice for his entire staff. Mayor de Blasio doled out raises to 358 of 360 staffers in fiscal year 2016. That came to a total of $2 million, which included a generous $13,000 raise to the executive chef at Gracie Mansion, who now earns $115,000. Data compiled by the Empire Center also show 56 City Hall staffers — including 35 who got new job titles — received raises of more than 20%. Read More
The Empire Center found city school-custodian engineers were the highest-paid group of city employees in 2014, earning an average of $109,467. And their union contract made it impossible to fire them unless they were jailed. Some custodians did stellar work — but many schools looked like dumps. Read More
Seizing on the hardships of young firefighters and cops who have received skimpy disability pensions after being forced into retirement by line-of-duty injuries, unions representing the Bravest and Finest are pushing to roll back hard-won pension reforms. Read More
In what's becoming annual tradition, a handful of bills increasing pension benefits for groups of public employees passed in New York's Legislature this year. Read More
Now we know why the unions fought so hard to keep it a secret: The Empire Center for Public Policy reports that FDNY pensions averaged $100,000 for new retirees these past seven years. Read More
New York City’s pension costs will reach nearly $8.8 billion in the coming 2016 fiscal year — more than double the 2006 level and nearly eight times the 2001 amount. Yet now, with a week to go in the state legislative session, Albany is poised to drive those costs even higher. Read More
In many respects, New York City looks economically and fiscally as strong as it’s ever been. But it’s still worth recalling that, 40 years ago this week, things were very different. Read More
New York City's welfare caseloads are expanding again—a deliberate and predictable outcome of Mayor Bill De Blasio's policies, as Manhattan Institute's Steve Eide points out in his new "Poverty and Progress in New York" report. Read More