An Albany police officer, Willie Flack, was the Capital Region’s highest-paid local government employee in fiscal year 2025-26, at $279,370, according to payroll data submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). Police officers in Albany, Schenectady and Troy and the Town of Colonie held six of the region’s ten highest-paid positions.

Statewide, the 179,222 employees of New York’s counties, cities, towns and villages outside New York City were paid a total of $12.0 billion in fiscal year 2025-26, an average of $67,037, according to the Empire Center’s annual What They Make 2026 report. The Capital Region’s 20,130 employees averaged $55,082, sixth among the state’s nine regions outside New York City and about $12,000 below the statewide average.

Local governments in Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties paid a total of $1.11 billion. A total of 11.7 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, compared with about one in five statewide. Four were paid more than Governor Hochul’s $250,000 salary.

Among the findings:

• Schenectady County employees averaged $63,610, the highest of any county in the region. Albany County had the region’s largest county workforce, 2,759 employees averaging $58,866.
• The City of Schenectady had the highest city average in the region, at $75,990, followed by Troy ($72,285) and Saratoga Springs ($71,732). The City of Albany’s 1,769 employees averaged $57,524.
• The Town of Colonie had the region’s largest town payroll, $43.2 million for 682 employees, who averaged $63,305. Rotterdam’s town employees averaged $66,708, the highest of any town in the region.
• The Town of Bethlehem’s police and fire employees averaged $120,631, the highest in the region, followed by Colonie ($116,633), the City of Hudson ($113,084), Guilderland ($111,838) and Niskayuna ($108,946). Albany’s 519 police and fire employees averaged $104,882.
• The Niskayuna Fire District No. 1’s 23 employees averaged $108,416, the highest of any special district in the region.
• Local government payrolls came to $1,002 per resident in the Capital Region, compared with $1,054 statewide. Warren County, home to the Lake George resort area, spent $1,315 per resident, counting the county and all of its cities, towns and villages. Saratoga County spent $681, the lowest of any county in the state.
• Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon was paid $222,645. Records matching his name and hire date show $49,654 the year before, when he took office partway through the fiscal year after being sworn in on December 30, 2024.

Ten Highest-Paid Local Government Employees – Capital Region

The two Rensselaer County employees reported at exactly $250,000 were at the pension earnings limit for Tier 6 members, so their actual pay was likely higher. The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.

Payroll records for every Capital Region county, city, town, village and special district can be searched at the Empire Center's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. The full statewide report, What They Make 2026, includes searchable pay figures for every local government outside New York City.

The Empire Center is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in Albany.

Source for Kindlon: Spectrum News, December 30, 2024.