Like a drunk tempted to go on one more binge at a stressful moment, New York state may soon reach for the debt bottle in the face of mounting deficits. If it does, taxpayers will feel the hangover for a generation. Read More
Research
During and after the 2001 recession, U.S. states did about $30 billion in deficit financing, S&P says. (That is, they borrowed long-term, restructured existing debt, or securitized stuff with the aim of getting cash immediately for operating spe Read More
The Empire Center has posted payroll records for the 298,247 employees who worked for the State of New York in 2009 on its transparency site, . The full release, including tables listing the 50 highest-paid employees in each branch of state gover Read More
Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch today formally released his for achieving structural budget balance, including a proposal to authorize roughly $6 billion in "transitional borrowing" to help close projected budget gaps over the next three years. The borro Read More
Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch still hasn't publicly released his long-term plan to restore structural balance to New York's state budget, including a rumored proposal to bond out a portion of the state's budget shortfall. But the details emerging so f Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli today issued a that focuses on the budget process, but his most significant and potentially valuable recommendation deals with debt. Read More
mid Governor David Paterson's various troubles, a bill quietly was introduced last week--at his request--offering a pension sweetener to public employees represented by a single union: New York State United Teachers. The would allow teachers and Read More
In his State of the State message in January, Gov. Paterson announced that Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch would “take the lead in [developing] a four-year plan for fiscal recovery.” Read More
New Jersey imposed a 4 percent cap on local property tax increases a year before Governor David Paterson endorsed the Suozzi Commission's call for a school property tax cap in New York. But unlike Paterson's original proposal, the cap signed into law by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine in 2007 contained a number of loopholes, including a clause exempting the cost of health insurance benefits. Read More
President Barack Obama wants to limit raises of federal government employees to 1.4 percent--far less than the 4 percent raises most New York State workers expect in the coming year. In New York, raises are determined by negotiations with public e Read More
Which will vanish sooner -- New York state’s incredible shrinking cash reserves, or its incredible shrinking chief executive? It could be a photo finish. Read More
In a Times on Washington's Wall Street bailouts and New York's economy, the Fiscal Policy Institute's James Parrott says that "the magnitude of the bailout has been so great that it will have wiped out whatever cumulative surplus" New York Read More