Legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo continued to push for a state budget deal Saturday, agreeing on a pay raise for non-union state workers and appearing to be close to increasing school aid by as much $1.4 billion. Read More
Tag: Budgets
The pork-barrel spending better known as legislative member items has reappeared in a budget bill that New York State legislators are expected to vote on this week. Read More
The Legislature is on the verge of following Governor Cuomo's lead by making three big moves in the wrong direction. Read More
Good news to cap off Sunshine Week: at least some local government and school officials are working to make their websites more useful and informative. Read More
State lawmakers have not lost their appetite for pork. The Senate and Assembly have stuffed millions of dollars in pork-barrel-type spending into nonbinding budget resolutions adopted Thursday — despite the fact that that governors have not allowed new legislative “member items” in the budget since 2010. Read More
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the State Legislature are ensnarled in a fight behind closed doors that will shape not only this year's $149.9 billion budget, but the balance of power in Albany for years to come. Read More
“It comes down to how you feel about the ends justifying the means,” says Albany watchdog E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy. “Think of the worst thing you can think of a governor trying to do, then picture him trying to do it through an appropriation bill.” Read More
Governor Cuomo repeatedly has said that the state’s unprecedented $5.4 billion cash windfall is a “one shot” that should not be spent on recurring expenses such as school aid or agency operations. Yet his proposed budget language might allow him to do just that. Read More