Tag: Transparency

The Cayuga County Legislature Ways and Means Committee held a pair of spirited meetings last week regarding the proposed 2015 county budget. Much of the discussion centered around spending cuts, and specifically how expense reductions would translate into jobs eliminated. The county is facing tough financial times, and in order to balance the budget and set operations on a more stable path, some tough choices must be made. With that in mind, county officials should be doing all they can to share information about the budget with the public. What we've seen so far, however, has been minimal at best. 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

More than 650 retired state and local government workers collecting a pension have also been authorized to earn a public salary before they're 65, according to a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Ten Nassau County employees and eight Suffolk County employees, mostly investigators in the district attorneys' offices, have received waivers from the state to go back to work, or "double dip," according to the database compiled by the nonprofit advocacy group. About three dozen other waivers to the state retirement law were granted for Long Island police departments, towns, and school districts. Read More

On the ever-growing list of what’s wrong with New York state are waivers that allow some retired public workers to collect generous pensions and return to work in the public sector for lucrative paychecks far beyond what’s generally allowed by law. 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