And speaking of debt: in its latest on the newly adopted New York City budget, the state Financial Control Board says the city's unfunded liability for "other post-employment benefits" (OPEB) could approach $100 billion in three years. As shown in th Read More
New York State's 2010-11 2011-12 fiscal year appears to be off to a good start. Tax collections for the first quarter of the year were nearly $800 million above Governor Andrew Cuomo's initial budget projections, according to the June cash report posted today by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Read More
After sailing unscathed (with steady pay hikes, no less) through a severe recession and fiscal crisis, members of New York's largest state government union will belatedly make some relatively small, mostly temporary financial sacrifices under the ten Read More
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group of labor unions, have the idea of tapping a union-controlled health care slush fund to prevent 4,100 scheduled scheduled teacher layoffs and 20 Read More
Should New York's temporary personal income tax hike on high-income households be extended beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of this year? Former state Assemblyman Richard Brodsky and I took opposite sides on this question in a segment on... Read More
Noting a reported increase in wealthy households in the New York City metropolitan area, Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal is mystified that "New York still has huge budget problems given the wealth surge in 2009 and much-publicized tax burden... Read More
Despite growing signs that Congress is finding it harder to spend with reckless abandon, New York State budget negotiators were counting on getting $1 billion in added Federal Medicaid Reimbursement Percentage (FMAP) aid under the so-called "jobs bill" expected to move... Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli yesterday issued a happy talk news release touting the state retirement system's 26 percent return on investments in fiscal 2009-10, which ended March 31. “The Fund remains one of the strongest in the U.S.,” DiNapoli said. Read More