City & State’s Ashley Hupfl reached out to Dave Friedfel, director of state studies at the Citizens Budget Commission, to clarify some of the details about the budget extender.

State and local economic development agencies in New York give away billions of dollars in subsidies to businesses every year but do little to assess what taxpayers are getting for their money.

For almost two years, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been arguing that Albany should allow New York City to levy a new tax on home sales above $2 million. Carol Kellermann weighs in.

THE OBSERVATION DECK
Editorial: More bang for N.Y.’s buck
By Jay Jochnowitz, Editorial page editor on March 28, 2017 at 12:01 AM
Our opinion: With New York spending billions on economic development for uncertain gains, the state should develop a program that better demands and measures success.

Both state and local economic development agencies have ramped up spending on subsidy programs since Cuomo took office. The total last fiscal year hit a record $8.6 billion, according to a calculation by the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan group that tracks state spending. And Cuomo has proposed a major boost for the coming fiscal year.

Budget watchdogs have expressed concern that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “mansion tax” proposal, which would impose levies on real estate transactions above $2 million, may be misguided or even unnecessary

State lawmakers hashing out a $152 billion budget are contending with a possible complication as Congress weighs a proposal that would shift some health-care costs from New York’s counties to its state government.

The fundamentals of the issue are pretty simple. The state sets Medicaid policy but forces counties and New York City to pick up a share of the cost, now averaging about 19%. It is a classic unfunded mandate. Only 15 other states make a similar demand. The Citizens Budget Commission, for one, has been calling for a state takeover for years.

Mr. Niblack’s comments came in response to a question from ABNY panel moderator Maria Doulis, vice president of the Citizens Budget Commission. “There are certainly risks on the Federal side” in terms of budget cuts, she said, but “there is also this question mark about the economy.”

She continued, “The monitors released their reports of the city plan and they find the economic growth, at least in terms of jobs being added, is slowing. This is also the first time in an expansionary period that I remember seeing non-property tax revenues, which are more economically sensitive, be essentially flat” for the current fiscal year and the next.”

Financial Plan Tweaks Weaken N.Y. MTA, Says Watchdog

Parity for New York State transportation investments is a misnomer, according to a report by budget watchdog Citizens Budget Commission.

The different honors hint at the varying scope of the Citizens Budget Commission as it patrols New York state and New York City finances and public authorities. The nonprofit group, which identifies itself as nonpartisan and independent, funded mostly by its membership dues and proceeds from its annual dinner, looks after the big picture and the granular.