More than 35 state employees in Otsego and Delaware counties earn more than $100,000 a year, according to a government watchdog website.

Most of those employees are administrators at campuses of the State University of New York in Oneonta and Delhi, and the others include judges and state police. A spokesman for the SUNY system said this week that top salaries at the area schools are comparable with similar SUNY colleges.

At the State University College of Technology in Delhi, five administrators have salaries of more than $100,000, said its spokesman, Joel Smith, director of college advancement. Considering their education, their average of 25 years of professional experience each and the duties of the positions, the administrators earn their pay, he said.

“These leaders provide a real value for the citizens of New York state,” Smith said.

The Empire Center for Public Policy took already publicly available information and made it more accessible by posting it two weeks ago on a website, www.seethroughny.net.

The site includes the payroll of more than 263,000 state government employees as of May 1; teachers union contracts; school superintendent contracts; operating expenses of the Senate and Assembly; and the Legislature’s member items for 2008-09.

The center is a project of the private, nonprofit Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

Government watchdog groups praised the site for giving taxpayers more information about how public money is spent, but others questioned disseminating the details without perspective.

“We need to be comparing costs and benefits,” said John Nader, dean at SUNY Delhi and mayor of Oneonta.

The salary information is useful, he said, but the Empire Center’s focus on costs must be supplemented by presenting the benefits.

According to the website, Nader’s state salary was $88,333 as of May 1. As mayor, Nader earns $19,350, city officials said.

Budgets at SUNY Delhi and the city of Oneonta are scrutinized, Nader said, and generally, taxpayers “get good value” from those institutions. However, he said, it’s incumbent upon elected officials to let taxpayers know the benefits of how state money is spent.

SUNY educates more than 438,000 students on 64 campuses, the most students in its history, according to David Henahan, a system spokesman.

SUNY tuition is $4,350 for full-time students. With tuition and fees below the national average, SUNY continues to provide access to an affordable education of the highest quality for New Yorkers, he said.

SUCO enrolls 5,889 students in 69 degree programs, while SUNY Delhi enrolls 3,035 students and has 124 faculty, among more than 450 employees, officials said.

Student leader defends SUCO salaries

“Our administrators do an excellent job of running the college,” said Mathew Axelrod, a junior at SUCO and a vice president with the Student Association. In particular, they listen to students, he said.

SUCO’s administrators probably deserve the pay they receive, Axelrod said. By some standards, salaries may be too high, he said, but it is up to the community to determine appropriate levels and let elected leaders know of problems.

Henahan said administrators’ salaries at SUNY Delhi and at SUCO generally are comparable with like schools in the SUNY system.

Terms of employment for state employees are negotiated between labor unions and the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, Henahan said, and SUNY and its campuses must comply with those agreements. The SUNY Board of Trustees adopts terms and conditions for non-union workers, he said, and trustees have a salary plan to compensate campus presidents.

The State University College at Oneonta has 266 full-time professors, 223 part-time faculty and a support staff of 645 full- and part-time employees, said Carol Blazina, vice president for community relations. In the 2007-08 academic year, the average salary for professors was $59,470, she said.

Blazina said the salaries and pay increases of administrators are determined by the state, not the local campus. She refused to comment on salaries or job responsibilities of administrators in general and said her own was too personal to discuss.

Blazina’s salary was $157,501 as of May 1, according to the website.

William Simons, a SUCO history professor and president of the United University Professions, said the See Through NY website list can be a tool to show that members of the bargaining unit aren’t paid as well as other professionals with comparable education and years of experience.

“The public _ the taxpayers _ in a democracy do have a right to know how their money is spent,” Simons said. “A healthy society is concerned when the gap grows too wide between the best compensated and the least compensated.”

The state median household income was $45,343, according to 2004 census figures. In Otsego County, median household income that year was $36,439, and in Delaware County, it was $34,142. Based on the current New York minimum wage of $7.15 an hour, a two-person household each working a 40-hour week would have an annual income of $29,744.

Seven of the local public college administrators earn more than elected state Supreme Court judges, who are paid $136,700 and county judges who earn $119,800 a year.

Judges in New York state haven’t had a raise or cost-of-living increase in 10 years, state and county courts Judge Brian Burns said Thursday.

“I’m absolutely not complaining about how I’m compensated or the amount I’m compensated,” Burns said. “I didn’t run for this position for the money. The fact that other people make more is a reflection of how important those jobs are to our society.”

According to www.seethroughny.net, Burns earns $136,700.

Is the state getting its money’s worth?

Rob Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the Otsego County Chamber, said the main question prompted by the Empire Center list is whether the state is getting its money’s worth.

Workers should be paid what they are worth, he said, and the website doesn’t include details about experience and years on the job. Robinson said he has seen some state employees he considered underpaid and others who are overpaid.

“No one ever told me life would be fair,” Robinson said.

A problem with the need for “transparency” in government is that someone is editing the information, added Robinson, who also expressed concern about how the salary information will be used.

State Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, said he has no problem with disclosure of the state salaries, and it could lead to a healthy discussion of what is appropriate, salary levels and the number of top employees. However, he said, the Legislature doesn’t set salaries other than for elected officials and judges.

Seward added that commenting on the jobs of SUNY administrators is difficult because the positions carry a range of responsibilities.

Administrators and their responsibilities

Public college administrators are listed on the site with such titles as provost, dean or vice president, without details about responsibilities.

For instance, Lisa Wenck, associate vice president for employee services, has overall responsibility for 16 employees and functions in the areas of human resources, employment opportunities, payroll and mail services, according to the SUCO website. Wenck, who has a bachelor’s degree and has worked for the college since 1992, didn’t return a call to her office Wednesday.

Wenck, listed as an assistant vice president, was earning $115,815 annually as of May 1, according to www.seethroughny.net.

Jeanne C. Miller, listed on the SUCO website as associate vice president for student life, oversees programs of the Office for Multicultural Student Affairs, counseling and health centers, student disability services, Hunt College Union, the Center for Multicultural Experiences and student judicial affairs.

Miller is a licensed psychologist who worked in private and community mental-health services, and started working in higher education in 1986.

Miller, who joined SUCO in 2000, has bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a doctorate in clinical psychology, the site said. According to www.seethroughny.net, her pay as assistant vice president was $112,411 as of May 1.

Miller returned a phone call but wasn’t available when called again Friday.

Brian Hutzley, vice president at the SUNY Delhi, is the college’s chief financial officer. He joined the college with 20 years’ experience, including five at MeadWestvaco in Sidney, where he managed a $1.2 billion budget, according to a 2005 college newsletter.

He has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration.

Hutzley’s pay as of May 1 was $117,068, according to the watchdog website.

Hutzley wrote on the SUNY Delhi website that the business and finance team perform diverse functions, including campus information services, accounting, budgeting, student accounts, purchasing and business and community services.

He referred questions Friday to the college’s media relations office.

Smith said the five administrators have responsibilities for enrollment, generating revenues, student services and other day-to-day duties at SUNY Delhi, which is a $50 million operation. The administrators are dedicated to serving the college around-the-clock, Smith said, and when compared with other highly experienced professionals at local, state and national level, they are providing a “real value” to New Yorkers.

According to Henahan, the benefits of SUNY to taxpayers reach beyond the classrooms. SUNY campuses are economic engines and centers of culture in many communities, he said, and faculty have won Nobel and Pulitzer prizes and Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards.

Much of the revenue that makes up SUNY’s budget comes from non-state resources, Henahan said. SUNY’s all-funds budget is more than $10 billion and of that amount, state-support totals about $3.4 billion.

SUNY faculty members and researchers attract nearly $1 billion a year to its campuses and to New York state, and Henahan said that is especially important during difficult fiscal times.

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