New York state paid 996 employees more last year than Governor Andrew Cuomo’s base salary of $179,000, according to a compilation of payroll data by the Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany.

Most of those who earned more than the governor work in the 83 campuses and three hospitals of the state and city university systems, which aren’t under the governor’s direct control. The employment information collected by Empire, a group that advocates less government spending, doesn’t include the cost of pensions or other benefits.

Cuomo, a Democrat who announced a voluntary 5 percent pay cut for himself and top staff soon after he took office this year, is seeking $450 million of labor savings from about 130,000 workers he does oversee to help close a $10 billion budget gap. Union contracts expire March 31, and Cuomo’s budget calls for 9,800 dismissals if there is no cost-cutting deal.

With pay averaging $100,552, the New York State Police had the highest average earnings among executive-branch agencies, the report said.

The highest paid worker outside of the state or city university systems, at number 127, was Raudline Etienne, chief investment officer of New York’s $140.6 billion pension fund. Etienne, who was paid $285,063, was previously a managing director at RogersCasey, a Darien, Connecticut-based adviser to pension and retirement plans…..

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