A police chief in the Mid-Hudson region was the highest-paid municipal government worker in New York during the state’s 2019 fiscal year, according to the latest edition of “What They Make,” the Empire Center’s annual report summarizing total local government pay.

New York’s highest-paid local government employee in 2018-19 was Brad R. Weidel, the Police Chief for the Town of Ramapo in Rockland County, who was paid $403,650, the Empire Center’s analysis found.

Other data highlights for local government employees in the Mid-Hudson region, which includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties:

• The highest-paid police department in the Mid-Hudson was in the Town of Clarkstown, whose 160 employees made an average of $181,432.
• The highest-paid fire department in New York was also in the Mid-Hudson region, with the Town of Harrison’s ten fire department employees collecting an average of $182,885.
• The highest-paid general employees were the 30 Village of Kiryas Joel employees, paid an average of $87,148.
• Nine of the top ten earners in the Mid-Hudson region were law enforcement.

The names, employers, system and pay of the 10 highest-paid local government employees in the region are listed below:

The amounts listed in the report do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance or pension contributions, which can add more than 35 percent to the cost for taxpayers.

Click here to read the full report.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.