A important breakthrough on the property tax cap issue came last week when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver introduced a bill that conforms in key respects to Governor Andrew Cuomo's original proposal. Read More
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In his opening message to the Legislature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed out that public-pension costs are “exploding” across New York state. Read More
One day after seeming to agree to an acceptable compromise on Gov. Cuomo’s proposed 2 percent cap on property-tax levies, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday seemed to be sticking a poison pill in the fine print. Read More
Robert Fitzpatrick spent $140,000 buying up subway and bus ads to warn people that the world was going to end Saturday. According to news reports, it didn't. So should we worry about how Fitzpatrick, a retiree on a fixed income, will support himself Read More
The Tappan Zee Bridge, which carries 51 million vehicles annually across the Hudson River between Rockland and Westchester counties, is one of the Northeast region’s most important transportation arteries--and it's badly in need of replacement. Read More
Yesterday's Times that Speaker Sheldon Silver has reintroduced the "millionaire tax" as a standalone bill may qualify as the dog-bites-man, non-news story of the year from the State Capitol.Silver and his conference already voted in favor o Read More
Gov. Cuomo seems close to unveiling his promised pension-reform plan for New York’s state and local governments. Read More
Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez has about the $237 million in tax-exempt debt behind the overly luxurious parking "system" near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx: If [the garage defaults], the Bloomberg administration faces th Read More
What would "truly transformational" public pension reform look like in New York? E.J. McMahon answers the question in in today's New York Post. The key, E.J. argues, is to replace the traditional defined-benefit (DB) pension with a def Read More
The MTA has that illustrates how much bridge and tunnel tolls have outpaced inflation over the past four decades. Cash tolls today on four major crossings -- the RFK Bridge (which is really the Triborough Bridge), the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, the Read More
The and Albany both report today that Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed public pension changes may include an optional defined-contribution retirement plan. (See Update below.) Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a new pension "tier" that would raise retirement ages, reduce benefit levels, eliminate overtime spiking and increase employee contributions for state and local workers outside New York City, the Associated Press Read More