ALBANY The cost of doing business in New York State
is substantially higher than in most other states because employers
here must pay more for employee benefits, energy, taxes and other costs,
according to a new "Just The Facts" data compilation by The
Public Policy Institute
New York State employers are among the nation’s least
optimistic about the likelihood of hiring in the first quarter
of 2005, a new nationwide survey from Manpower Inc. shows.
The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which is conducted
quarterly by Manpower Inc
Given a projected $6 billion budget gap in 2005, state leaders must cut spending across the board to provide more funding for New York City schools, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said.
The comptroller reviewed New York State's fiscal picture during remarks at a conference on how state leaders should respond to an expected court order requiring billions in new spending on New York City schools
Money is not the most important predictor of school success, and injecting billions of new dollars into New York City schools will not help without greater accountability, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean told an education-finance conference.
“It’s not just about money,” Governor Dean said of efforts to improve struggling schools in New York and elsewhere
A special panel has recommended that the courts mandate another
$7.5 billion a year in spending on the New York City schools,
to comply with last year’s ruling by the Court of Appeals
in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.
The panel, whose recommendations now go before state Supreme
Court Judge Leland Degrasse for further action, opted for
the high end of various cost proposals before it
Governor Pataki and the Legislature should force New York City schools to use existing dollars more efficiently, but might also need to raise taxes statewide to pay for court-ordered improvements in education, a New York City-based think tank says in a new report.
A new statewide system of accountability, based on proposals made by the Zarb Commission, should also be part of the state's efforts to improve failing schools, according to the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC)
New York State's hospital system is too big and too expensive, but there are opportunities to reduce costs while improving patient care significantly, an advisory group appointed by Governor Pataki has concluded.
"In New York, we spend far more on health care than other states, without achieving dramatically better health outcomes for New Yorkers," the Health Care Reform Working Group wrote (emphasis in original)
The Public Policy Institute of New York State has begun publishing
a new “Monthly Economic Snapshot of Upstate New York,”
a compendium of data showing short- and long-term job-growth
trends in Upstate and its key metropolitan areas
The percentage of New Yorkers with employer-provided health
insurance has declined slightly in recent years, a new analysis
of Census Bureau data shows. At the same time, the percentage
of New Yorkers with taxpayer-funded health insurance has increased
Editor's note: This story was first
brought to the attention of The Business Council by an essay
in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on November
5. The essay, by local real estate agent Geri Dellfava, highlighted
the experience of a couple from Texas who "almost fainted"
when they heard the property tax bill for a property outside
of Rochester