Tag: Local Government

Albany and Binghamton topped the list for property taxes in the 2014 update of Benchmarking New York, the Empire Center web tool that connects users with tax, spending and debt data from local governments outside New York City. Read More

It didn’t seem to surprise some local officials that their municipality’s website got a failing grade on a recent report card. Read More

A new survey shows that most county websites in the Southern Tier still have a lot of room for improvement. According to the Empire Center's first annual See Through N.Y. Website Report Card, more than 70 percent of counties got a failing grade, including Broome County. Read More

Eighty-five percent of the websites for New York’s largest local governments and school districts are failing to provide taxpayers with basic, easy-to-find information, according to the 2014 SeeThroughNY Local Government Website Report Card, released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Eighty-five percent of the websites for New York’s 500 largest counties, municipalities and school districts failed to earn a passing grade in the Empire Center’s first annual SeeThroughNY Website Report Card Read More

The property tax cap for New York counties, towns and villages with fiscal years starting January 1, 2015 will start at 1.56 percent, slightly lower than last year's starting rate of 1.66 percent. The cap in each locality will vary based on the amount of applicable allowable exclusions for growth in local property values. Localities also will be able to exclude the amount by which the change in pension contributions exceeds two percentage points Read More

A bill rushed to passage by both houses of the Legislature last week would gut local control of police discipline by deeming it a subject of collective bargaining throughout the state. The bill can be seen as a fresh test of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's commitment to "transform" a state dominated by public employee unions. Read More

Local governments should consider sharing services to help reduce costs and maintain services to residents, suggests a new report from the Empire Center for Public Policy. “Municipal Cooperation: Sharing Services in NY,” explores the different ways localities in New York can and do share services to save money. Read More