To help New Yorkers compare certain basic fiscal measures for local governments, the Empire Center has calculated effective property tax rates and per-capita values for the spending, debt and tax levels throughout the state. Read More
Research
After remaining for months on the fate of the proposed two-year moratorium on crypto-mining, Governor Kathy Hochul has now the bill into law, as her admi Read More
A pandemic-related study recently published by the state University at Albany's School of Public Health is marred by factual errors, inconsistencies and methodological issues that raise doubts about its findings – and questions about the process by which it was reviewed. Read More
Christakis remarked on the website that graduate students, now moving to unionize at the school, are not ordinary worker. Read More
If a government agency loses $11 billion, do New York’s legislators make a sound? That’s the question in Albany after Comptroller Tom DiNapoli issued his investigation into what was likely the most expensive administrative mishap in state hist Read More
Overtime payouts to New York City government employees rose by more than one-third last year. The City paid out a total of $2.44 billion dollars in overtime in Fiscal Year 2022, a 36 percent increase from the prior year’s total of $1.8 billion. Read More
An audit report shines some overdue light on New York’s handling of unemployment insurance claims it paid out during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More
If the power goes out under a fully municipalized LIPA, you can bet neither the Legislature nor public power advocates will accept the blame. Read More
A large share of the state’s Medicaid budget is flowing to personal care, or non-medical services provided to the elderly and disabled at home. Read More
The Hochul Administration has finally released an overdue budget report—which, on first look, shows the state's fiscal outlook virtually unchanged. Read More
There’s been a lot of discussion about crime in the race for New York’s attorney general — but not the violation of law committed at the attorney general’s office earlier this year. Read More
A new law requires New York State’s school bus fleet be entirely zero-emission by 2035. But it's unlikely the state can meet that deadline. Read More