The Buffalo Chronicle
Empire Center for Public Policy
-
Excelsior scholarship is inferior to TAP, report says
New York’s Excelsior Scholarship, now offering tuition-free public college to students from families making up to $125,000 a year is “deeply flawed,” and the $119 million the state now budgets for Excelsior…
-
One in four New York educators earned six figures in 2018-19
More than 25 percent of public school teachers and administrators in school districts outside New York City were paid more than $100,000 as of 2018-19, according to salary data posted today at SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire…
-
Skoufis spends more than any new Senator
Sen. James Skoufis, D-Newburgh, had $134,858 in staff and member office expenses during his first three months in the Senate, the most among newly elected members of that house, according to data posted today…
-
MCMAHON: Film tax credit costs big bucks for no impact
BY E.J. McMAHON The billions of dollars funneled from New York’s treasury to movie and TV producers had no statistically significant impact on the industry’s employment in the Empire State through 2017,…
-
Corrections retirees had highest average state pensions
Corrections Department employees qualified for average pensions of nearly $70,000, the highest average benefit for any agency grouping among the 7,990 New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS) members collecting their first…
-
Scathing report suggests Cuomo mishandled Medicaid reforms
The budget crisis in New York’s Medicaid program stems from the failure of a key cost-control measure adopted during Governor Andrew Cuomo’s first term, according to a new report from the Empire Center for…
-
SALT lawsuit swept aside by a federal judge
BY E.J. McMAHON In what could rank among the least surprising federal court rulings of this or any year, a U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan has rejected New York’s constitutional challenge to…
-
“What They Make” report analyzes 2018-19 local payrolls across New York
A town police chief in Rockland County was New York State’s highest-paid municipal employee outside New York City during the state’s 2019 fiscal year, according to the latest edition of “What They…
-
NYPD pension fund must share names with Empire Center, judge rules
In a major Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) case, a state Supreme Court justice in Manhattan today ruled that the names of retired New York City police officers receiving public pensions must be released…
-
Politicians spent almost $8M on campaign-style mailings
State lawmakers spent $7.8 million on postage for campaign-style mailings to constituents in the six-month run-up to last year’s elections, according to data added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Senators spent…
-
McMahon applauds permanent tax cap
BY EJ MCMAHON The impending enactment of a permanent property tax levy cap in New York is a truly historic moment. Since its founding in 2005, the Empire Center has identified a…
-
MTA can’t release public records on time, either
The Empire Center for Public Policy this week filed Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) appeals with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) after six of its seven subsidiaries failed to release public payroll…
