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Governor Cuomo’s declaration of a state emergency after the Harlem subway derailment in June offered hope to suffering transit riders because it was an acknowledgement there was a crisis and the Governor was taking responsibility for addressing it. An emergency declaration  in New York law requires an affected agency to develop plans to deal with…
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New York’s mass transit riders are experiencing a serious and rapid decline in service. The negatives are palpable and documentable; ever-worsening delays are aggravating and angering the millions of New Yorkers who need the subways, buses, and commuter rail systems to move them around. A State Comptroller’s audit found on-time weekday performance for the subway…
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The State of New York received nearly $9.9 billion between 2014 and 2017 in legal settlements from 33 different financial institutions related to pre-recession wrongdoing.The money was a spectacular windfall for the State. Governor Cuomo first began proposing uses for the funds in the 2015-16 budget, modifying the proposals over time and as new money…
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On Election Day this November voters will be asked the question: ” Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution and amend the same? ” New York’s existing Constitution requires this question be submitted to the voters of the State every twenty years. If New Yorkers vote yes, delegates to a convention would be…
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The New York State budget approved this April provided the lowest funding increase for public schools in the last five years, about 4.1% State Public School Aid Increases: FY ‘14 FY ‘15 FY ‘16 FY ‘17 FY ‘18 State 4.9 5.4 6.0 6.1 4.1 NYC 4.6 5.25 5.79 5.73 3.95 The…
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The adopted State budget includes a $2.5 billion appropriation for new affordable housing, with $1 billion for supportive housing. The new money should help New York City substantially with its housing crisis. The budget also resurrected the real estate developer property tax break known as 421-A, renamed ” Affordable NY”. How the two came together…
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Last August the New York State Public Service Commission ordered the State’s utilities to buy electricity at higher rates from four nuclear power plants in the Lake Ontario region of upstate New York whose owners had threatened to close them. The order takes effect on April 1 and requires a $482 million annual rate increase,…
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One big health care story in the wake of the failure to repeal Obamacare is the triumph of the Medicaid program, both in New York and the nation. Quinnipiac released a poll a few days before the Republican setback showing broad public opposition to the repeal, and one question asked the American public if it…
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Failure to renew the tax, which expires Dec.31 of this year, will result in a $3.3 billion revenue loss to the State in 2018. That revenue loss concern is compounded by another tax cut enacted last year, the second  middle class income tax cut ” enacted during the Cuomo years. Advanced by the Republican Senate…
