The Buffalo Chronicle
EJ McMahon
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Where were New Yorkers headed in the run-up to the pandemic?
BY E.J. McMAHON Since the late 1960s, New York’s primary export to the rest of the nation has been people, as reflected in federal data tracking population flows within and between states.…
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In Albany’s heaviest-spending year ever, lawmakers approve more pork
BY E.J. McMAHON New York and its local governments will soon be showered with tens of billions of dollars in federal stimulus cash—and yet the new state budget will pump even more money…
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Job recovery picks up steam in New York, but still far behind rest of U.S.
BY E.J. McMAHON New York’s private-sector job recovery accelerated in March—but remained far behind the national pace on a year-to-year basis, according to the latest monthly figures from the state Labor Department.…
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McMAHON: State budget shaping up as embarrassment of riches—for now
BY E.J. McMAHON Governor Cuomo’s Division of the Budget (DOB) and the Legislature’s fiscal committees have agreed to boost New York State’s revenue projection for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 by $2.45…
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For now, Cuomo is still managing the State budget process
BY E.J. McMahon With less than a month to go before the April 1 start of New York State’s 2022 fiscal year, Governor Cuomo has been politically wounded by the allegations of…
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Amid Cuomo’s fulminations, New York’s budget gap keeps shrinking
BY E.J. McMAHON State tax receipts in the month of December came in $1.4 billion above the latest projection by Governor Cuomo’s Division of the Budget (DOB), according to a cash report…
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Seeking bigger federal handout, Cuomo proposes record budget
BY E.J. McMAHON Somewhere within that vast fog bank of a FY 2022 Executive Budget that Governor Cuomo began to roll out today is a structural budget gap, opened during the pandemic recession and…
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Pay freeze for State workers extended again—temporarily
BY E.J. McMAHON The Cuomo administration is quietly extending a temporary freeze on scheduled pay hikes for about 135,000 unionized state government employees and public college faculty members—although the largest affected labor…
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New York had largest 2019-20 population decline of any State
BY E.J. McMAHON New York could be on the way to its first population decline in any decade since the 1970s, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Empire State’s…
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State tax receipts strong again in November, but jobs recovery remains slow
BY E.J. McMAHON New York State’s tax receipts in November were a whopping $800 million above Governor Andrew Cuomo’s projections for the month—further evidence that the current-year budget gap is probably much…
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With employment lagging, Cuomo may postpone scheduled minimum wage hike
BY E.J. McMAHON Still struggling to recover from spring pandemic shutdowns, now facing the threat of renewed restrictions due to a second wave of COVID infections, the last thing New York’s economy needs is…
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With State officials’ freeze through 2023, more reason to ice all government pay
BY CAM MacDONALD In light of the state government’s “extremely precarious financial position,” New York’s state lawmakers, judges, statewide elected officials and certain gubernatorial appointees should not receive pay raises in the…
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In New York, private job count down 1.1 million from pre-pandemic level
BY E.J. McMAHON Six months into the novel coronavirus pandemic, New York State’s private-sector employment recovery was the slowest in the 48 contiguous states—and getting slower. The latest monthly jobs report from the state…
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How a blast from the past could save NYC again
BY E.J. McMAHON Forty-five years ago this month, then-Gov. Hugh L. Carey and the state Legislature passed a landmark law, the Financial Emergency Act, designed to rescue Gotham from imminent bankruptcy. The…
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The numbers debunk Cuomo’s SALT gripes
BY E.J. McMAHON For the better part of three years now, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been pounding SALT — the federal income-tax deduction for state and local taxes. After President Donald Trump…
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New Yorkers paid less in federal taxes in first year of new tax law
BY E.J. McMAHON Federal income taxes paid by New Yorkers decreased by nearly $3.4 billion in 2018, the first year of the new federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), according to newly…
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New data confirm New York State’s Q1 economic plunge
BY E.J. McMAHON New York’s economy ended the first quarter of this year in virtual free fall, the latest federal data show. The Empire State’s real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased 8.2…
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NYC led the latest state population drop
BY E.J. McMAHON For a second consecutive year, New York’s population loss was mainly concentrated downstate, according to the latest Census Bureau estimates. During the 12-month period ending last July 1, the…
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What 2019’s census data tells us about New York
BY E.J. McMAHON The final set of pre-pandemic U.S. Census population data for cities, towns and villages provides localized details on a familiar New York pattern: widespread decline upstate, and a few…
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Cuomo keeps holding off on budget cuts
BY E.J. McMAHON On April 2, with New York’s COVID-19 curve still rising ominously, state lawmakers wrapped up a budget almost unchanged from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pre-pandemic January proposal. With the economy in a…
