Police and firefighters top the list of Western New York’s highest-paid municipal employees, starting with a cop from Lackawanna.
Mark A. Cellini, a Lackawanna police officer for 25 years, was the highest-paid local government employee in 2013-14, pulling in $233,929, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank.
The center today released its latest edition of “What They Make,” an overview of local government payrolls for the period of April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.
“The Empire Center produces this report because it is committed to protecting the right of taxpayers to know how their money is being spent,” Executive Director Tim Hoefer said in a statement. “Employee compensation is the single largest component of municipal budgets.”
It was not immediately clear why Cellini topped the local list this year, after earning a total of $79,204 in 2012, according to city payroll records. He joined the force in January 1989, according to those records.
Meanwhile, Erie Community College President Jack F. Quinn Jr., who was the region’s best-paid public employee last year, came in at No. 2 this year, bringing in $192,500, according to the survey.
Rounding out the local Top 10 were five Buffalo police officers, two Buffalo firefighters and a Lackawanna police captain, whose salaries ranged from $169,684 to $183,441.
The salaries listed in the report do not include fringe benefits, such as health insurance or pension contributions.
The state’s highest-paid government employee in 2013-14 was Charles Ewald, the warden at Suffolk County’s correctional facility, who collected $414,527.
The entire report can be viewed by checking out Empire Center’s web site at www.empirecenter.org.
© 2014 The Buffalo News
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