On Aug. 3, the state Senate passed a bill containing nearly $800 million in tax hikes and other provisions that represent the final piece of the budget for the fiscal year that began April. Passage of the 2010-11 appropriation bills was completed by the Legislature June 28--after which Gov David Paterson vetoedthousands of line items, mainly legislative pork-barrel “member item” spending. Read More
Just when it looked like New York’s free-spending public schools were about to do some serious belt-tightening, along comes the US Senate this week to clear the way for another $26 billion “stimulus” dose, including $600 million for K-12 education in the Empire State. Read More
New York governors have the power they need to control spending. Is New York State ungovernable? Back in April, David Paterson seemed to think so. Read More
The names and salaries of 186,223 people who worked for New York’s county, city, town and village governments in 2009-10 are available at www.SeeThroughNY.net Read More
On Aug. 3, the state Senate passed a bill containing nearly $800 million in tax hikes and other provisions that represent the final piece of the budget for the fiscal year that began April. Read More
New York state and local governments’ liabilities for retiree health coverage run to the hundreds of billions of dollars -- a burden that’s only now coming into full view. Read More
E.J. McMahon spoke at Wagner College Read More
The challenges confronting Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo won’t be limited to closing a state budget gap now estimated at between $9 billion and $11 billion. Cuomo and the Legislature will also need to respond to growing fiscal distress among New York’s local governments. Read More