The complete 2015 New York state government payroll is now posted on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
The updated database includes the names, titles, base pay rates, and total pay of more than 291,000 individuals who worked in the state’s executive, legislative, or judicial branches at any point in calendar year 2015. Taxpayers can search state government payroll records dating back to 2008.
The 2015 data show:
- The highest-paid employee on the state payroll was Reuven Pasternak, CEO and Vice President for Health Systems of Stony Brook University Hospital. His pay totaled $673,596.
- 1,797 state government employees were paid more than Governor Andrew Cuomo’s $179,000 salary.
- The 50 highest-paid state government employees worked for either the State University of New York (SUNY) or the City University of New York (CUNY). The list includes SUNY Stony Brook basketball coach Stephen Pikiell at $449,994 and SUNY Buffalo football coach Jeffrey Quinn at $440,728.
- The state ended 2015 with 227,326 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees, down from 229,041 at the end of 2014.
- State employees were paid $15.51 billion in 2015, up 1.8 percent from $15.23 billion in 2014.
Not reflected in the data are costs of pensions, health insurance for employees and retirees, and other benefits.
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and do business.
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