As argued in previous posts on this blog, Cuomo actually squandered a golden opportunity to deliver much more meaningful reform of the 39-year-old, repeatedly renewed but still temporary statute that has done much to drive police and firefighter compensation through the roof in New York. Read More
Federal Medicaid reimbursements to New York State could be cut by $1 billion a year to make up for more than two decades of excessive claims that one congressman compared to “fraud.” Read More
Governor Cuomo today signed a bill imposing a 2 percent cap on increases in property tax assessments the “base agricultural assessment value” for farms. Read More
“Cash-strapped New York has tentatively chosen the highest bidder to produce driver’s licenses under a disputed contract that would provide only black-and-white photos and end up costing the state nearly $38 million more than the current contract if it’s approved,” the AP reports. Read More
Noting that New Yorkers had been treated last week to “almost daily political perp walks” involving “a parade of office-holders,” an editorial in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal pointed out: “The bigger scandal in the Empire State continues to be what the politicians do that’s legal.” Read More
It sounds like Governor Cuomo may be wavering on the optional defined-contribution (DC) retirement plan that was the single most innovative aspect of his Tier 6 pension reform proposal. Read More
Twenty-nine days past the legal deadline, the Cuomo Administration finally got around to posting the state’s required mid-year financial plan update on the Division of the Budget (DOB) website late yesterday afternoon. As expected, the report does not included an estimate of fiscal impacts from Superstorm Sandy. DOB says it is still working on those numbers. Read More
Governor Cuomo’s tax-hike spin machine is in overdrive. The governor just issued an “op-ed” on tax reform that claims the state’s current income tax code “is just not fair,” implying strongly that filers with low-incomes pay taxes at the same rate as millionaires. Read More