Throughout New York State, no public document has a greater impact on tax burdens and educational performance than the local teacher union contract. Yet few school districts have made any effort to share these contracts with taxpayers — and so the Empire Center has stepped into the breach by doing it for them. Read More
Binghamton had the highest effective property tax rate of any city in New York as of 2013, according to the Empire Center’s latest annual Benchmarking NY report. Read More
The Empire Center is participating in "Sunshine Week," a nationwide effort to promote government transparency. Check back during the week to see our latest releases. Read More
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employed the three highest-paid police officers in New York State during 2014, new data show. Read More
A new report finds that nearly 5,000 New York teachers are being paid six-figure pensions courtesy of tax payers. Read More
Five years ago, a taxpayer watchdog invoked the state Freedom of Information Law and started a court battle for access to the names of retired public employees who are collecting pensions, along with the amounts of their payments. Read More
Instead of a gold watch, more and more teachers are getting gold-plated pensions when they retire. The number of retirees earning six-figure pensions from the city and state teacher retirement systems nearly tripled during the past five years, according to a report from the Empire Center for Public Policy released Thursday. Read More
The number of retirees eligible for six-figure pensions from New York’s two teacher retirement systems nearly tripled between 2009 and 2014, according to new pension data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net. Read More