Starting tomorrow, Rockland residents will begin paying increased taxes on their electricity, natural gas and home-heating oil bills. In an effort to plug a hole in its budget, county officials in the spring approved an additional 4 percent tax on home energy bills to take effect on Sept. 1. Orange… Read More →
New York state’s Department of Taxation and Finance has simplified its sales-tax system, with state businesses next week able to perform all sales-tax filings and reporting through its online system. “Eliminating paper saves taxpayers dollars and improves service to the business community,” said Commissioner Thomas Mattox. “This new system builds… Read More →
The Hurricane Irene Recovery Fund, managed by the United Way of New York State distributed $208,520 in grants and had $221,413 in requests for assistance, according to a United Way report released today. The money went toward cleanup of Irene, which had been downgraded to a tropical storm by the time… Read More →
Hoping to end questions about its involvement in a sexual harassment settlement in the Assembly, the state attorney general’s office released a set of emails late Thursday that offer a window into the talks that led to the controversial agreement. The emails appear to confirm a number of details about… Read More →
State parks saw a total of 43.7 million visitors through the summer months this year, a 5.6 percent bump over the same period in 2011. There were 2.3 million more visits in 2012 over the previous year, according to the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Attendance was… Read More →
Laws providing tax deductions for living organ donors have not markedly increased donations, according to a new study. A study in the August issue of American Journal of Transplantation found no significant difference in annual donation rates in donation rates in the 15 states, including New York, that enacted tax… Read More →
The Westchester Board of Legislators will vote Sept. 10 on an agreement with the state that would set aside $250,000 for cleanup of thousands of plastic discs that escaped from the county’s Mamaroneck sewage treatment plant during heavy rain early last year. The pending agreement is an update to a… Read More →
Voters will decide in November whether Greenburgh should lease the former Frank’s Nursey property on Dobbs Ferry Road for 15 years to Game On 365, which wants to build a $6.9 million athletic complex, The Journal News reports today. The project has come under fire from some community members and… Read More →
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said in a statement this afternoon that he would “welcome” a state Joint Commission on Public Ethics investigation of a secret settlement his office made to settle an unknown legal claim. The Assembly paid $103,080 in taxpayer funds two months ago for the settlement. “I… Read More →
The state will spend $1 million to jumpstart 10 regional heritage-tourism marketing plans as part of its “Path Through History” project, a roadmap of historically and culturally significant sites, locations and events in New York. New road signs will be installed on major state highways to promote the sites, and… Read More →
