The Empire Center has updated the state government payroll section on SeeThroughNY.net, its government transparency website, to include payroll for 2013, the fiscally conservative group announced today. The database on SeeThroughNY.net includes the names, titles, base salary rates and total pay of more than 287,000 state workers in the executive, legislative or judicial branches at any time during the 2013 calendar year.
For the second year in a row, the highest paid state employee was Antonio Alfonso, teaching professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He made $1,086,145 in 2013.
Other notable statistics:
—More than 1,300 state workers earned more than Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $179,000-per-year salary.
—All but one of the 50 highest paid employees in the executive branch worked for one of the state’s psychiatric centers or are psychiatrists.
—Forty-four of the 50 highest paid state workers at SUNY and the City University of New York worked at hospitals. None of the top 50 are in the Lower Hudson Valley.
—The 17th highest paid state employee in the executive branch was Bellange Hegde, a medical specialist at Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg. Hegde earned a base salary of $157,736 and total pay of $241,053. The list doesn’t include SUNY and CUNY.
—The only other local state employee in the executive branch’s top 50 was Hongtao Zhang, a psychiatrist at Rockland Psychiatric Center. Zhang’s base salary of $157,736 and total pay of $232,287 put him at 38th highest out of 50.
—The legislative employee who made the most in 2013 was Robert Mujica, who earned a base pay of $178,000 and total salary of $183,981.
—In the judicial branch, Acting Family Court Judge Robert Caloras was the highest earner. His base salary was $167,000 and total pay was $202,177. He worked in Queens. No one from Putnam, Rockland or Westchester made the top 50 list.
The website has tables listing the average pay by executive agency and the 50 highest-paid state workers by branch of state government.
The data doesn’t include the costs of pensions, health insurance for employees and retirees, and other benefits.
© 2014, Gannett News Service
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