This report helps identify priorities for ongoing efforts to control costs at the MTA through benchmarking. This is accomplished by comparing unit cost measures with other large urban transit agencies in the United States, which helps point the way to areas in which the MTA is out of line with practices in other places and suggests priorities for new efficiency initiatives.
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.
The New York State Medicaid program has long been recognized as among the nation’s most expensive programs, both in terms of total expenditures and the unit cost of services provided. With New York’s Medicaid program being a major component of its budget, the rising cost of the program has been a significant concern for the State.
Perhaps the biggest fiscal challenge facing newly‐elected Governor Andrew Cuomo is controlling Medicaid spending in New York State. Medicaid is one of the largest items in the State budget, and because New York requires a sizeable local share, Medicaid is also a significant burden on local governments.
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.
New York's ongoing budget crisis has prompted leaders and candidates to call for a cap on state spending. Citing Albany's consistent record of significantly increasing spending in good and bad times, they want future spending to grow no more quickly than the national inflation rate.
Municipal government is a labor intensive activity. The City of New York and its related agencies have more than 362,000 full-time equivalent employees; of the City's $63 billion annual expense budget, more than 57 percent, or $36 billion, is allocated to employee compensation. Using this money effectively is critical to the City's fiscal health and efficient service delivery.
In New York City more than one million housing units, representing more than half the private rental market and one‐third the total housing stock, are subject to rent regulation. This scale of regulation is unique among American cities and is highly controversial.
A comparative analysis of the 50 states indicates that New York's debt burden is in a "danger zone;" it is well above national averages and greater than that of all but three states. As a result New Yorkers are currently paying about $5.6 billion in debt service, and in four years the state's credit card obligation will be over $7.1 billion or one of every ten dollars paid in taxes.
The CBC and the Partnership for New York City surveyed large private firms in New York City to provide a basis for comparing the health insurance and pension benefits of private sector workers with those of municipal employees.
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