Harrison town officials are pirouetting after a police officer asked the town to pay $2,845 for him to take a dance course at a private college. It appears that the police union contract--previously approved by town officials--requires the town... Read More
Faced with a potential 26 percent hike in its tax levy, the Town of Woodstock is weighing a plan to require some retired employees to pick up a bigger share of their health insurance. Promise now, pay later. That's the approach local governments, school districts and the State of New York itself have taken... Read More
To the public demanding to know why the school superintendent is leaving early and four other administrators have been fired, suspended or transferred, the Jordan-Elbridge school board replies: None of your business. Read More
When the city of Troy asked its Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) employees to consider forgoing a 3.5 percent raise this year, a CSEA spokesperson said, "...we do not renegotiate our contracts. It's a moot point," ... Read More
New York's public-sector employees have been promised $205 billion in post-retirement health benefits that the state and its local governments have set aside no money to pay for, a new Empire Center report found. Read More
Two cities in heavily taxed Niagara County have agreed to share the burden of providing water services. But the deal first needed to get around objections from a municipal labor union. Read More
New York has the second highest-paid state police force in the country, the Gannett News Service (GNS) last week, based on both state payroll and U.S. Census records. GNS said the average salary for all ranks of state trooper came to $112,000 as o Read More
We’ve been calling on the state Legislature to implement a policy of “proactive disclosure” of public information – and the Niskayuna Central School District has just helped bolster our case. Recently, a local taxpayer questioned the size of increases in administrative salaries. She based her analysis on... Read More