"I think the tax cap has induced a sense of complacency," said E.J. McMahon, founder of the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank in Albany. "It’s seen as automatically keeping a fairly tight lid on the levy. But at the first sign of fiscal stress and added pressure for higher taxes, I'd expect turnout to rebound." Read More
As the Empire Center’s E.J. McMahon notes this week, the latest budget update puts next year’s gap at $4 billion, up by $500 million just since February. Read More
"Number one, this money is not being used to fund public priorities. Number two, it's using borrowed money and forcing future taxpayers to pick up the tab for politicians to win political points today," said Ken Girardin, policy analyst at the right-leaning Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
Long Island voters will weigh in Tuesday on nearly $13 billion in proposed spending for the 2018-19 academic year that affects about 440,000 public school students, in an election season with a focus on security spurred by the February mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. Read More
Nearly half of the 669 school districts are proposing tax levy increases that go right up to the cap, according to an analysis by The Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank. A total of 309 districts are at the cap limit. The center claims this fact is evidence that school districts would have proposed higher levy increases without the cap. Read More
“New York’s school districts are receiving record-high levels of aid from Albany to educate fewer students, and our school taxes are still climbing,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center. Read More
New York's newly enacted state budget for the fiscal year that started April 1 is balanced with higher-than-anticipated tax receipts, but out-year projected budget gaps have grown significantly larger, according to quarterly financial plan update issued late Friday afternoon by Governor Cuomo's Division of the Budget (DOB). Read More
The Empire Center has posted sortable online databases of per-pupil spending and tax levy increases proposed in 2018-19 school budgets that will go to the voters next Tuesday, May 15. Read More