An alert reader has provided the answer to a question posed on this blog yesterday: how or where did the state’s largest public employee union come up with its estimate that Governor Cuomo’s proposed Tier 6 pension plan will “reduce benefits” by 40 percent? Read More
The Empire Center for New York State Policy, a government watchdog group, is seeking to overturn mid-level appeals court rulings that blocked the release of information about how much money individual public employees were receiving from their taxpayer-funded pension funds. Read More
The Empire Center for Public Policy has been in a legal battle for years with several public pension systems after lower courts ruled starting in 2011 that the names of pensioners do not need to be made public. Read More
Tax-funded employer contributions to New York’s state and local government pension funds are about to rise sharply. What will be the impact on budgets, taxes and public services? Are New York’s public pensions adequately funded? What can be done to curb pension expenses while fairly balancing the interests of taxpayers and employees? The presentation of a new Empire Center report answers these questions -- culminating in a keynote from a Utah state lawmaker who has been a national leader in state pension reform. Read More
This event explores the Empire Center's paper, "Optimal Option," focused on the popular Optional Retirement Plan offered for the past 48 years by the State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY), including accounts administered through the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF). Read More
Are New York City's public-pension managers running an investment fund -- or an affordable-housing program? Read More
Governor Cuomo has projected that maintaining a 2 percent cap on annual growth in state expenditures could lead to a budget surplus of up to $2.9 billion by fiscal year 2017. The key question, in his words, is “how do you use this period of growth to actually increase the economic competitiveness of the state of New York?” Based on our analysis of New York’s state and local tax structure, that question could be answered by addressing the following five initial tax policy priorities, which would not only make New York more business-friendly, but would reduce the high tax burden on all New York residents Read More
Local officials around the state are breathing a sigh of relief after Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced Tuesday that their required contribution to fund public employee pensions will tick down. It's the first decrease since 2010, and it comes in the wake of a major spike after the 2008 stock market crash... Read More