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Report
Education
Sustainably Supporting a Sound Basic Education
Part 2
August 14, 2024
Flaws in New York State’s school aid funding formulas stop the State from effectively distributing funds based on student need and local capacity.
Report
Education
Sustainably Supporting a Sound Basic Education
Proposals to Reform NYS School Aid
July 16, 2024
While attention is primarily focused on Foundation Aid, which comprises nearly two-thirds of State school aid, effective resource allocation reform should address all funding streams.
Special Feature
State Budget
Did You Know?
NYS Enacted Budget Edition
May 24, 2024
Release of Financial Plan Shows $2B More in Spending over State’s Initial Report.
Report
State Budget
Up and Away
State Budget Proposals Miss the Mark and Compound Fiscal Problems
March 26, 2024
As New York State lawmakers negotiate the State’s Fiscal Year 2025 Enacted Budget, they risk adding unsustainable spending, driving growth above 6 percent a year, and widening the structural gap to $20.3 billion.
Report
Education
Target and Tighten
The Sustainable Path for School Aid Growth in New York
March 13, 2024
The State’s burgeoning SOF spending has widened budget gaps. Spending restraint is needed to close those gaps, and that will only be accomplished by limiting growth in school aid, which is nearly 30 percent of SOF spending.
Report
State Budget
NYS Budget Outlook
Brighter Economy Has Not Closed Gaps; Focus Should Be Spending Restraint, with More Sunshine on Basic Breakouts
March 07, 2024
Continued strength in the economy has improved the tax receipts outlook for the State, but improving tax receipts are not and will not be the entire solution to closing out-year gaps.
Report
State Budget
Excelsior!
New York State Spending Growth Continues
February 22, 2024
Forward-looking budget choices this year–namely not layering on further tax and spending increases–would relieve the building budget pressure and stave off a potentially harsh fiscal reckoning.
Report
State Budget
Top of the Charts
New York and Its Localities Were #1 in Taxes and #2 in Spending
February 13, 2024
New York does not exist in a vacuum. It competes with other places, and other jurisdictions’ experiences provide an important perspective on the different choices that are being made.
Op Ed
City Budget
Taking Control of New York’s Budgetary Future
Vital City
January 25, 2024
Budget season kicked off with an Albany-New York City doubleheader last week, with brightening skies in both places thanks to proactive efforts to cut costs (especially in the city) and a resilient economy that is bringing in higher-than-projected tax receipts.
Op Ed
State Budget
Repeal the Film Tax Credit, But Don't Expect Savings Just Yet
Even if this wasteful program is killed in 2018, its expenditures will continue for years
December 13, 2017
The Citizens Budget Commission is a long-time critic of the New York State Film Tax Credit program and supports its repeal. However, due to some unusual provisions of state tax law, repeal of the credit will not yield immediate state savings.
Report
Pensions & Benefits
2017 Benefit Sweetener Scorecard
December 07, 2017
The State Legislature passed 26 bills. Click to learn more.
Report
Economic Development
Tax Increment Financing: A Primer
December 05, 2017
This report provides an overview of TIF and a five-point checklist drawn from lessons learned from past projects to help identify potential TIF projects.
Report
Economic Development
Opaque and Duplicative
Local Economic Development in New York State
October 30, 2017
Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) and Local Development Corporations (LDCs) should be consolidated at the regional level and their reporting requirements strengthened.
Report
Capital Spending
Bridging the Financial Gap
Funding the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
October 12, 2017
Tolls for the new Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge have not been released yet, but based on construction costs, CBC estimates it will be approximately $10 for cars, double the current rate.
Report
Health Care
Medicaid Supplemental Payments
The Alphabet Soup of Programs Sustaining Ailing Hospitals Faces Risks and Needs Reform
August 31, 2017
$5 billion in annual supplemental payments are important to the finances of many hospitals. Federal policy will shrink these payments; the impact will be most severe for NYC municipal hospitals.
Report
City Budget
NYC Resident Feedback Survey: Community District Results
Reveal Wide "Satisfaction Gap" Between Districts
June 30, 2017
How do New Yorkers feel about quality of life and municipal services? It varies tremendously by community district.
Special Feature
Economic Development
Economic Development in the New York State Budget
June 14, 2017
Reporting is limited and differs by program. With $4.0 billion in annual state spending and tax expenditures, a significant investment is being made without enough information to evaluate its success.
Report
City Budget
NYC Resident Feedback Survey: Report of Results
May 16, 2017
10,000 New Yorkers responded to a survey about which services they're satisfied with -- and which are in need of improvement.
Special Feature
Education
District Map of Foundation Aid for SY 2017-2018
From Enacted NYS Budget
April 20, 2017
Interactive map that shows the distribution of Foundation Aid per pupil and per district
Op Ed
Education
Fix NY's broken formula for distributing school aid
March 22, 2017
How much more funding should New York state provide to Syracuse public schools? A report by the Citizens Budget Commission, for which I was the primary author, says that an increase of $83 million is needed for the City of Syracuse school district.