National Contracts
When a school district/municipal government purchases products and services, can it utilize national contracts or partner with another school district or town to get better pricing? New York does not...
View ArticleCompetitive Bidding
When considering construction work, can the school district/municipal government open up bidding so that all companies can submit bids for work? Local governments are subject to competitive bidding...
View ArticleSchool Budgets and Beyond
On May 15th, less than two weeks from now, New Yorkers across the state will be out once again exercising their democratic right to vote, this time on their local school budgets. At the end of April...
View ArticleThank You for Voting For New York Businesses
Thank You for Voting For New York Businesses 33 Upstate Assembly Members Oppose Minimum Wage Increase Unshackle Upstate would like to send a special message of thanks to the following members that made...
View ArticleSchool Budgets: Democracy at Work
On Tuesday (May 15th) New Yorkers across the state voted on school budgets for their local districts. Remember that 92 percent of all proposed budgets stayed within the tax cap. Overall, 96 percent...
View ArticleNew York State’s Retiree Health Costs Rise 29%
According to a financial statement issued by the state Division of the Budget, New York State owes $72.2 billion for promised health benefits for retired government workers, a 29-percent increase over...
View ArticleWrong Again
Rick Karlin of the Times-Union has an interesting article about the lack of mandate relief emanating from the halls of the Capitol this year. His story was accurate. There has not been much done to...
View ArticleBudget Imbalance: Structural vs. Systematic
In a report that was released earlier this week, several knowledgeable former public officials outlined what we all know; Local government are in trouble and without lots of change, you and I will be...
View ArticleEducation reform must focus on mandate relief
In a June 29 article in the Albany Business Review, Charles Dedrick, district superintendent for the Capital Region BOCES stated that the business community needs to be as much behind mandate relief as...
View ArticleSchool Pensions Costs Set to Increase
The state Teacher’s Retirement System has estimated that schools will have to pay as much as 16.5 percent of their payroll to cover pension costs, up from a current rate of 11.84 percent, according to...
View Article
