The employer share of pension contributions in New York has risen by more than $3 billion in the last five years, straining taxpayers throughout the state. Yet state legislators this year have passed dozens of bills—and introduced literally hundreds of others—that would further expand the already generous retirement benefits of government workers. Read More
The Appellate Division of Supreme Court in Manhattan—in a three-sentence opinion unvarnished by analysis—has overturned decades of precedent and affirmed a lower-court ruling allowing the New York City Police Pension Fund to keep secret the names of retired officers receiving pension benefits. Read More
Pension bills for New York's local governments and school districts will rise by a combined total of at least $359 million as a result of the rate increase by the state comptroller this week, based on the latest available salary data from the state Read More
A important breakthrough on the property tax cap issue came last week when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver introduced a bill that conforms in key respects to Governor Andrew Cuomo's original proposal. Read More
Quinnipiac University's latest poll of New Yorkers has some dismaying results for fiscal conservatives. Here's some questions and results from the poll press release... Read More
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