Search
Showing 21 - 40 of 44
Report
Pensions & Benefits
Six-Figure Civil Servants
Average Compensation Cost Of New York City Public Employees
January 08, 2009
In fiscal year 2008, the average compensation cost per New York City full-time employee was $106,743; this figure represents a system out of sync with the private sector and an opportunity to limit the growth of the City’s liability in the future while continuing to provide fair and adequate compensation to the City’s employees. Three factors that have driven the growth in compensation among City employees are: 1) Pay increases are directly attributable to contract settlements with unions; 2) More generous terms of the health insurance benefits offered by the City, as compared to the private sector and other state and local governments; and 3) The benefit retirement plans offered by the City that lock in the City’s future payouts to retirees based on the employee’s pay, years of employment and age at retirement among other factors. CBC offers three recommendations in response to these factors.
Report
Transportation
Benchmarking Efficiency for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Services
April 05, 2011
This report helps identify priorities for ongoing efforts to control costs at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority through benchmarking by comparing unit cost measures with other large urban transit agencies in the United States. It also suggests priorities for new efficiency initiatives.
Report
Energy & Environment
New York’s Green Policies
Too Much or Too Little – A Competitive Perspective
April 03, 2011
This report assesses how New York compares to other cities in pursuing green objectives and suggests how New York’s leaders can set priorities for taking additional steps to promote environmental goals in ways that align with goals of economic growth and urban competitiveness.
Report
Economic Development
Avoiding Past Mistakes
Principles for Governing Regional Economic Development Councils
September 12, 2011
This report examines New York State economic development programs' past mistakes and explores the potential to improve meaningful outcomes via new regional councils designed to streamline and coordinate the current array of state economic development efforts. It warns of the danger that new regional councils will become new heads on the already huge an unwieldy New York State economic development portfolio.
Report
City Budget
NYC's Already High Spending Keeps Climbing
February 22, 2024
Despite the pandemic, recession, and multiple rounds of PEGs, City-funded spending is slated to increase 22.6 percent between fiscal years 2019 and 2025.
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
City Budget
Real Numbers, Real Choices
Recommendations for a Clearer Fiscal View in the NYC Executive Budget
April 18, 2024
New York City’s long-run fiscal stability is precarious, and its short-term prospects are uncertain. Major causes of this uncertainty are revenue estimates that may be unreasonably conservative and spending estimates for current programs that are alarmingly understated.
Report
Economic Development
Recommendations for the Next Round of Economic Development Council Awards
October 10, 2012
This brief analyzes the first round of awards for New York State's Regional Economic Development Councils and provides recommendations to standardize and improve evaluation of programs, as well as move toward a unified economic development budget.
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
New York City's Water and Sewer System
Is the Rent Too Damn High?
December 14, 2011
This report provides a history of the City's water rental payment, critiques the current method for setting the rent, and suggests alternative approaches to setting the rent.
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
State Budget
Giving and Getting
Regional Distribution of Revenue and Spending in New York State Budget
December 19, 2011
The report analyzes the regional distribution of revenues collected and dollars spent within the New York State budget by examining actual receipts and expenditures for the 2009-10 fiscal year. It finds that downstate gives more to the State in taxes and revenues than it gets back in expenditures for services and other assistance and that upstate gets more than it gives.
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.
Report
Public Workforce
Governor Cuomo's Labor Contracts
Only Getting Part of the Job Done
January 06, 2017
In collective bargaining, the Governor must balance paying workers fairly with keeping tax levels reasonable. More needs to be done to control rising fringe benefits costs.
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
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
Pensions & Benefits
2017 Benefit Sweetener Scorecard
December 07, 2017
The State Legislature passed 26 bills. Click to learn more.
Report
City Budget
BIDs - Organization, Oversight, and Transparency
November 02, 2017
There are currently 74 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in New York City serving 85,000 businesses in more than 42,000 properties. BIDs derive the bulk of their funding from a special assessment fee levied on property owners, and collectively BID assessment revenues totaled more than $100 million in fiscal year 2016. This policy brief examines the process for setting assessment fees, their uses, and the city’s oversight of BIDs.
Report
Pensions & Benefits
The Price of Promises Made
What New York City Should Do About Its $95 Billion OPEB Debt
October 25, 2017
CBC presents options for tackling this looming $95 billion liability threatening New York City's fiscal health.
Report
Taxes
Options for Property Tax Reform: Equitable Revenue Raising Reforms for NYC's Property Tax
The Most Important Economic and Fiscal Decisions Facing the Next Mayor
December 05, 2013
The purpose of this report is to describe three options for increasing property tax revenues. The first of these options maintains status quo inequities; in contrast, the other two address some major problems with fairness and efficiency that characterize current policy.