New York State residents pay some of the highest local taxes in the nation. To help New Yorkers compare some of the basic fiscal measures for local governments, the Empire Center for Public Policy has calculated effective property tax rates and per-capita values for the spending, debt and tax levels of counties, cities, town and villages throughout the state, excluding only New York City. Read More
Albany and Binghamton topped the list for property taxes in the 2014 update of Benchmarking New York, the Empire Center web tool that connects users with tax, spending and debt data from local governments outside New York City. Read More
Only a week after an Empire Center for Public Policy report gave many municipal websites a failing grade, New York state unveiled a new site of its own. Read More
It didn’t seem to surprise some local officials that their municipality’s website got a failing grade on a recent report card. Read More
These lucky public servants have a pay deal that’s twice as nice. They’re in a select group of 665 city and state employees under age 65 who draws hefty government salaries at the same time they rake in public pension cash, says a watchdog group that wants more scrutiny of double-dipping. Read More
A new survey shows that most county websites in the Southern Tier still have a lot of room for improvement. According to the Empire Center's first annual See Through N.Y. Website Report Card, more than 70 percent of counties got a failing grade, including Broome County. Read More
The earnings limit for younger retirees collecting both pensions and pay from government can be waived “temporarily” in certain circumstances. Read More
A non-profit research group says the town of Wilton has the Capital Region’s best municipal website. Read More