Calling it an "oppressive unfunded mandate" that would impose $57 million in "near term obligations" on local governments across New York State, Governor Cuomo has vetoed a bill that would have allowed public employees to claim up to three years worth of pension service credit for time spent in peacetime military duty. 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
Who could be against “smart schools”? The unsurprising answer: not nearly enough New Yorkers to defeat Proposal 3 on yesterday’s statewide ballot, which authorizes $2 billion in state borrowing to finance local school district purchases of computers and other classroom technology; expand schools’ high-speed and wireless Internet capacity; install “high-tech security features”; and build new classrooms for pre-kindergarten programs. Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who frequently cites his success in producing “on-time budgets,” is once again behind schedule in releasing the statutorily required Mid-Year Update to the New York State’s financial plan. The Mid-Year Update for fiscal 2014-15 was due Oct. 30, last Thursday, under Section 23.4 of the State Finance Law.* As of Election Day morning, no update had appeared on the website of the governor’s Division of the Budget (DOB). Read More
Over the past 50 years, New York voters have been presented with 23 general obligation bond issues, including this year’s proposal to borrow $2 billion for school technology and the building of pre-kindergarten classroom space. The outcome of the last 22 votes is evenly split, with 11 proposals passing and 11 failing. Read More
In his reelection campaign, Cuomo boasts that he has reduced taxes to their lowest level in decades. All three of the New York governors to seek at least a second term since 1978—Democrats Hugh Carey (1975–82) and Mario Cuomo (1983–94) and Republican George Pataki (1995–2006)—also ran for reelection as tax cutters, though all three did more to reduce state taxes than Andrew Cuomo has done, at least so far. Read More
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s re-election bid is based on the assertion that he has “turned around” New York. However, the economic data pain a more mixed and muted picture of the state's recovery during his tenure. Read More
Eighty-five percent of the websites for New York’s 500 largest counties, municipalities and school districts failed to earn a passing grade in the Empire Center’s first annual SeeThroughNY Website Report Card Read More
After holding it for four months, the state Senate has just sent Governor Andrew Cuomo a bill that would add hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local pension costs by allowing public employees to claim pension service credit for time spent in peacetime military duty. Read More
In his recent debate with Astorino, Cuomo said: “Rhetoric is fine. Facts are better.” The fact is that the tax cap is working — but it needs to be permanent to make a permanent difference. Read More
The second of two Election Eve check-in-the-mailbox tax credit gimmicks concocted by state officials in Albany is unfolding this week. Most New York State homeowners outside New York City have received or are about to receive a payment equivalent to roughly 2 percent of their 2014-15 school property taxes—which will average roughly $60 upstate to $150 in downstate suburbs. This is on top of the $350 tax credit sent recently to families that had at least one child under 17 as of 2012. Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli likes to point out that he oversees one of the nation's best-funded public pension systems. That's true—although, given the competition, it's not nearly as impressive as it may sound. Read More