Maximum pension benefits averaged $68,676 for the 2,495 members of the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) who retired in school year 2016-17 with at least 30 years of credited service time, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
Following several ignored Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests for its teacher and superintendent contracts, the Empire Center for Public Policy today will file a lawsuit against Malverne Union Free School District in Nassau County on Long Island. Read More
New city payroll data the Empire Center for Public Policy compiled shows the city’s total pay to school workers increased to $10.73 billion for the 2016-17 school year. That’s up from $10.18 billion the year before. Read More
Twenty-three percent of public school teachers and administrators in New York school districts outside New York City were paid more than $100,000 during the 2016-17 school year, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
“We’ve said this since the beginning: Taxpayers have a right to know where their tax dollars go,” Hoefer said, noting that payrolls generally are the largest share of government costs. Past records on the Empire Center’s database show that the Middletown public works commmissioner’s pay was $141,308 in 2010 and has leaped several times, rising 30 percent since 2014. Tawil’s contract grants him five weeks of vacation per year and lets him save and get paid for all unused vacation days, which contributed significantly to his $260,000 pay in the past year. Read More
"Overtime is an unavoidable cost for virtually any business or government agency, but those costs are an indicator of how efficiently an organization is run," said Tim Hoefer, the executive director of Empire Center. "For Metro-North, the continued growth of those costs gives taxpayers and riders a good reason to question whether they’re getting the most for their money." Read More
Eight employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) were paid more than $200,000 in overtime last year, part of a general surge in MTA overtime in 2016, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More
A total of 270 new police, fire, teacher and superintendent contracts were uploaded today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More