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Report
Transportation
Recessions and Revenues
The Case of the MTA
December 16, 2015
This policy brief considers the implications of a recession for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) current financial plan.
Report
Public Workforce
Twenty Years Later
Integrating Services In The New York City Fire Department
December 09, 2015
The FDNY responds to more more medical emergencies than fires. The department needs a fundamental transformation.
Report
Economic Development
An Assessment of Performance Reporting by Regional Economic Development Councils
November 29, 2015
This brief assesses the performance of New York State's Regional Economic Development Councils over the past four years and offers recommendations for further improving data collected on projects and on the economic performance of the regions.
Report
Housing
Whose Burden Is It Anyway?
Housing Affordability in New York City by Household Characteristics
November 12, 2015
This report looks at New York City rent burdens in more detail, using an in-depth housing survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau to consider a variety of household characteristics.
Report
Transportation
Sisyphus and Subway Stations
August 31, 2015
This brief examines why the subway stations of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority never reach a state of good repair and recommends how to address the challenge.
Report
Transportation
Taxis, Taxes, and the MTA Funding Gap
August 25, 2015
This policy brief suggests alternatives for taxes on services regulated by New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission as a potential source of filling the gap in the MTA's proposed 2015-2019 capital plan.
Report
Housing
Cleaning House
How to Close the New York City Housing Authority's Operating Gaps
April 29, 2015
This report identifies the reasons for NYCHA's operating deficits in the last decade - insufficent operating subsidies, low rent collections, low nonrental income and high operating costs - and offers recommendations to increase revenues, curb expenses and improve productivity in order to eliminate NYCHA's projected $150 million deficit and improve conditions for its residents.
Report
Transportation
More Than Fare
Options for Funding Future Capital Investments by the MTA
March 25, 2015
This report examines the MTA’s current fiscal challenges and identifies options for funding its capital investment needs for the next five years.
Report
Economic Development
Bigger Not Better
New York’s Expanding Economic Development Programs
February 18, 2015
Although some modest reforms have been made, many economic development programs have grown significantly without the improvements needed to address widely noted shortcomings.
Report
Energy & Environment
A Better Way to Pay for Solid Waste Management
February 05, 2015
This policy brief explores a new financing method for residential solid waste removal by the Department of Sanitation: a volume-based garbage fee. The four main benefits include: 1) service cost visibility, 2) waste reduction, 3) independent access to capital, and 4) fairness.
Report
Transportation
Righting the Ship
A Course Toward Fiscal Sustainability for the Region's Maritime Ports
January 12, 2015
This report analyzes the fiscal condition and outlook at the Port Authority's maritime ports, known as Port Commerce, and recommends strategies to place the business line on a course toward fiscal sustainability.
Report
Pensions & Benefits
8 Things New Yorkers Should Know About Public Retirement Benefits in New York State
October 19, 2010
This report presents eight facts about retirement benefits for New York State and local employees intended to stimulate a substantive discourse on pursuing changes to prevent underfunding of the pension systems and to make retirement benefits more fair and affordable.
Letter
Transportation
CBC Encourages MTA to Link Fares to Operating Expenses; Explore Peak Pricing
September 30, 2010
The CBC seeks to stress two points: 1) the fare increases to be approved for January 2011 and proposed for January 2013 should move toward establishing a long-term policy to cover half of operating expenses with fare revenue, and 2) the MTA should explore the feasibility of incorporating the practice of “peak pricing" for subways and buses.
Letter
City Budget
CBC Urges Gov. Cuomo to Veto Arbitrary Training Mandate for Firefighters
September 29, 2010
CBC recommends to the governor that A9885/S6784, which mandates that New York City firefighters be provided an additional 80 hours of training on the Buildings and Fire Codes, be vetoed because it is an arbitrary addition to existing preparation that is unnecessary and financially burdensome.
Report
Pensions & Benefits
Better Benefits from our Billion Bucks
August 02, 2010
This report describes the organization and financing of the union welfare funds, identifies and documents three problems with the current arrangements – limited accountability, poor financial management and inefficient provision of benefits - and presents recommendations to improve the use of these payments and provide taxpayer savings.
Letter
Economic Development
CBC Urges the State Legislature to Let the Empire Zones Program Sunset
April 12, 2010
This letter was written to urge the State legislature to allow the seriously flawed Empire Zones program to sunset as of June 30, 2010, as established by law, and to enact the Excelsior program as proposed by the Governor.
Report
Capital Spending
How Public-Private Partnerships Can Help New York Address Its Infrastructure Needs
December 11, 2008
This report explores the application of public-private partnership (PPPs) in New York by explaining its definition of such a relationship and offering in-depth guidelines, potential applications (including highway bridges, New York City school buildings, New York City parks, and higher education facilities), examples on a global, national, and local level, and potential missteps and cautions.
Report
Economic Development
It's Time to End New York State's Empire Zone Program
December 02, 2008
The Economic Development Zone program has become a vehicle for giving tax breaks to a variety of corporations with no clear, consistent, verifiable justification for the public investment. This report describes the benefits enjoyed by participating firms and how those benefits are distributed among economic regions of the State and types of firms; identifies and elaborates on the three serious problems that compromise the program’s efficacy; and asserts that the Empire Zone program cannot be fixed, citing past failures to do so, and should end.
Letter
City Budget
Letter to the FCB on GASB 49 Requirements
Submitted to the Financial Control Board
April 29, 2008
Any deferral from meeting GASB 49 standards on pollution remediation should be limited to one year.
Report
Taxes
How Much Do Taxes Matter?
A Citizens Budget Commission Panel Discussion
December 11, 2006
In this background paper prepared for a panel discussion "How Much Do Taxes Matter? New York City's Tax Burden and Economic Competitiveness," which was convened by CBC on December 11, 2006, Elizabeth Roistacher, professor of economics at CUNY Queens College, summarizes the econometric literature that tries to model the relationship between tax levels and economic growth.