A Schenectady County employee was the Capital Region’s highest-paid municipal government worker 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.
In Warren County, Kristine D.Duffy, president of SUNY Adirondack, was the top paid at $210,857.
Duffy is the the fourth-highest paid government worker in Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties, according to a news release.
Among some of the other highlights were the average city employee earned $39,195. That ranked 10th among cities. The average pay was $84,582 for police and $75,805 for firefighters in cities.
The average Warren County employee earned $45,992, which ranked fifth among the counties. Washington County employee pay ranked eighth with a $41,766 average
The average town employee in the region had $28,530. For police, it was $75,511 and fire it was $47,800.
Lance M. Harvey, a child protective services caseworker in Schenectady County was paid $232,784 during the 12-month period ending March 31, the Empire Center analysis found. The region’s other highest-paid local employees included two county district attorneys.
Other data highlights for local government workers in the Capital Region, which includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties:
- The Town of Bethlehem’s 38 police officers pulled down the highest average pay for police departments in the region, taking home an average of $101,245.
- The highest-paid fire department in the Capital Region was Niskayuna’s Fire District, whose 16 employees were paid an average of $106,840.
- The highest-paid general employees in the region were the City of Watervliet’s 32 employees who collected $51,830 on average.
The names, employers, systems and pay of the top 10 highest-paid local government employees in the region are 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.8-22-19
© 2019 The North Country Gazette
You may also like
Comptroller warns of financial distress at the MTA, and the MTA goes on a hiring spree
According to Ken Girardin, a labor analyst at the right-leaning Empire Center for Public Policy, every new police officer will cost the MTA roughly $56,000, which means the new personnel would initially cost the MTA roughly $28 million a year.
Those costs should rapidly increase over time, as police salaries rapidly increase. Read More
TOP SALARIES IN WESTCHESTER FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
One of the great government watchdogs in New York State is the Empire Center for Public Policy, led by EJ McMahon. The Empire Center recently came out with its annual report on overtime costs and the highest earning public servants in NYS. Read More
Genesee Community College president tops pay list in Finger Lakes
ALBANY — Genesee Community College President Dr. James Sunser was the highest-paid municipal government worker in the Finger Lakes region, according to the latest edition of “What They Make,” the Empire Center’s annual report summarizing total local government pay. Read More
These Dutchess City, Town Workers Are Among Highest Paid In Upstate NY
Citing data from the New York State and Local Retirement System based on regular, overtime pay and unused vacation time, Empire Center’s 2018 “ What They Make ” report determined which town, city, and village employees are getting paid the most. Read More
Top-paid public-sector workers in region are mostly in Schenectady County
Seven of the 10 highest-paid municipal employees in the eight-county Capital Region worked for Schenectady County, the Empire Center for Public Policy noted.
While the individual salary numbers have been previously reported for the seven men — a child protective services caseworker, a doctor, a lawyer, three law enforcement officers and an economic developer — the report released Wednesday ranks them in comparison to the other counties outside New York City. Read More
Delaware psychiatrist tops Southern Tier public salaries
A Delaware County employee was named the highest-paid in the Southern Tier, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Read More
EDITORIAL: FOILed by a judge: Manhattan jurist Melissa Crane must speed it up on making police pensions public
Long ago the Empire Center for Public Policy asked the NYPD Pension Fund for the names of retirees and how much each is paid, to add the data to its indispensable database on how New York taxpayer dollars are spent. Read More
Long Island town and city payrolls in 2018
E.J. McMahon, research director of the Albany-based Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank, said contractual employee raises from collective bargaining agreements and civil service laws likely played a major role in rising costs. The agreements "produce steady increases over time, based mainly on seniority and oblivious to local economic or fiscal pressures," McMahon said. Read More