In today's Times, Mayor Bloomberg says that state governments don't need to curtail bargaining rights for public workers' unions. Instead, states just need to bargain better -- and give localities the authority to bargain better, too -- to protect the... Read More
The Post has a good editorial today on Mayor Bloomberg's plan to cut pension costs by taking away a "bonus" check from uniformed workers who have already retired: [W]hile the mayor has standing to ask for relief, the notion is fanciful... Read More
Many if not most New York City teachers will continue receiving automatic longevity pay increases despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement today that he will "eliminate raises" for them in the next budget. In fact, as illustrated... Read More
Nicole dissects Mayor Bloomberg's preliminary 2011 budget in . Her key point: while news coverage of what the Times as a "grim budget" has concentrated heavily on the mayor's proposed cuts, Bloomberg actually is relying much more heavil Read More
New York City's independent budget office (IBO) that Gotham will take in $1.3 billion more than the mayor is projecting over the rest of this fiscal year and next. The extra cash will alleviate some pressure on the city's projected (itself already Read More
Fresh from a key court victory, Albany's Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), via its subsidiary, the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC), yesterday approved the issuance of up to $800 million in bonds for the construction o Read More
in today's New York Post explains why—and how—the Paterson administration should declare a fiscal emergency and seek to impose a three-year freeze on all state and local employee salaries in New York. This would save taxpayers statewid Read More
Democratic mayoral challenger Bill Thompson said something good yesterday: "Can you afford 4 percent [raises for teachers] in the current environment? Probably not," he . Thompson's right. The education payroll, not including benefits, is alread Read More