Reports

New York taxpayers have been hit with enormous increases in pension costs for state and local government employees over the past 20 years. From less than $1 billion in 2000, combined annual employer contributions to the Empire State’s public pension funds escalated to nearly $10 billion by 2010, peaking at nearly $17 billion in 2015. Contributions have leveled off at roughly $16 billion in recent years—but under lenient government accounting standards, even that figure conceals the full long-term cost of generous, locked-in pension benefits for generations of retired government employees.  Read More

A new Empire Center report reveals that the New York Medicaid program now covers more individuals above the poverty line than below it. Read More

Governor Hochul is promising to reform the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) in the wake of negative publicity arising from its role in the controversy over former Governor Cuomo’s book deal for “American Crisis.” It’s the latest incident to put JCOPE under the spotlight in its ten-year history. Read More

A climate law adopted by the State Legislature in 2019 requires that New York transition to alternative energy sources on an aggressive timeline. Read More

This paper describes seven core objectives and offers specific policy recommendations toward their accomplishment. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, rather a good place to start work towards an Altered State with a growing economy, a more efficient public sector and new opportunities for an engaged and informed citizenry. Read More

For most New Yorkers, employer-sponsored health benefits exist only while they are on the job. When they retire, the benefits end. Not so for public employees.  Read More

County and Municipal Payrolls in New York Local government is a labor-intensive business, and employee compensation is the single biggest element of most municipal budgets. The 2021 edition of What Read More

If an impeachment proceeding continues, one likely subject of charges will be the Cuomo administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in nursing homes – about which the impeachment panel has already gathered hundreds of thousands of pages of documents. Based on the public record alone, there is ample evidence of serious wrongdoing. Read More

As the pandemic subsides and Cuomo’s emergency orders expire, the state should take some of what he has done by fiat and keep the change.  Read More

As New York emerges from the worst pandemic in a century, its citizens face a new threat to their lives and economic well-being – the danger that their leaders will fail to learn from a painful experience. Read More

As New York and the Nation emerge from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic and look to the future, many property owners are deciding whether and where to relocate their business or place of residence. Read More

Voters will cast ballots next Tuesday, May 18 on proposed budgets for school districts across New York State. New York State’s highest in the nation average per-pupil expenditure would rise to $28,658 per pupil, an increase of $1,145 per student, or 4.2 percent. Read More