Reports

State regulators should have foreseen the failure of NY's Obamacare co-op. Read More

Local government is a labor-intensive business, and employee compensation is the single biggest element of most municipal budgets. The 2014-15 edition of What They Make, the Empire Center’s annual report on public payrolls, allows New York taxpayers to compare this key element of local government costs around the state. Read More

Governor Andrew Cuomo wants New York to be become the first state in the nation to mandate a minimum wage of $15 an hour—more than double the federal minimum. Read More

A proposal to mandate the use of biodiesel in home heating oil in New York would raise consumer costs while reducing overall energy efficiency and consuming more fossil fuels. Read More

Since the enactment of the property tax cap, New York school property taxes have risen at the slowest rate since at least 1982. Read More

Per-pupil spending in the 669 school districts outside New York’s five largest cities will climb next year by 2.5 percent, nearly twice the projected inflation rate, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. The analysis indicates that school districts' per-pupil property tax levies will increase by 2.1 percent in 2015-16. Read More

After a small gain during the previous decade, upstate New York’s population dropped slightly between 2010 and 2014, according to Census Bureau data. Read More

The full extent of the continuing rise in school spending since the recession was not inevitable or unavoidable. Read More

As the national economy improved between mid-2013 and 2014, the movement of New Yorkers to other states surged back to pre-recession levels. Read More

New York’s state legislators would like a raise, but a review of state payroll data shows that more than three-quarters of them already earn more than their frequently cited $79,500 statutory base salary. Read More

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

Retired New York state and local government employees under the age of 65 cannot collect full public pension benefits if they earn more than $30,000 by returning to work for a state or local agency – but the earnings limit for younger retirees collecting both pensions and pay from government can be waived “temporarily” in certain circumstances. Read More