Pay records for more than 168,000 county, city, town, village and other public employees were added today to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.

In addition to the searchable data, the Empire Center released the updated edition of What They Make, its annual analysis of local government payrolls outside New York City. Notable findings include:

  • A total of 1,187 local employees were paid more than Governor Kathy Hochul’s $250,000 salary, of whom 209 were paid over $300,000.
  • Ninety-one of the state’s 100 highest-paid local government employees were police officers, all in the Mid-Hudson region or on Long Island; 40 were Nassau County police officers, 29 were Suffolk County police officers and 11 were Westchester County police officers.
  • The highest-paid group of employees was the Village of Kensington police department, whose six police officers were paid an average of $228,772. Another six village police departments in Nassau County had average pay over $200,000. In total, the average pay for uniformed police or fire employees in 45 municipalities topped $150,000.
  • Excluding villages, the police departments with the highest average uniform pay were Clarkstown ($199,506), Port Washington Police District ($187,050), Westchester County ($186,466), Ramapo ($183,392) and Glen Cove ($178,782).
  • The fire departments with the highest average pay were Pelham Manor ($193,778), Long Beach ($169,307), Greenville Fire District ($158,490), Hartsdale Fire District ($157,575) and Yonkers ($149,561).

What They Make includes interactive tables allowing users to see how each municipality’s average pay of general government and uniformed employees ranks within each region and statewide. It also lists the name, employer and pay for each region’s highest-paid local government employees.

The data cover state fiscal year 2023 (April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023). Individuals who worked while collecting a pension, or who do not participate in the state pension system, are not included in the data.

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