The payroll of The Research Foundation for The State University of New York grew more than twice as quickly as SUNY’s own payroll over the past five years, according to new data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.

The Research Foundation is a privately run nonprofit that handles state, federal and private grants to support research operations and other programs in the state university system. Its fiscal 2024 payroll totaled $344 million, up 7 percent from $321 million a year prior. Foundation employees often work in SUNY facilities alongside SUNY employees.

The Research Foundation’s payroll has grown 36 percent over the past five years (from $252 million to $344 million), compared to the 16 percent growth in the SUNY payroll (from $3.8 billion in calendar 2018 to just under $4.5 billion last year).

The Research Foundation last year paid a total of 8,189 people, though roughly half appear to have been paid on a temporary, per diem or otherwise short-term basis. The SUNY system employed just under 70,000 people for all or part of last year. 

Eleven Research Foundation employees were paid more than Governor Kathy Hochul’s $250,000 annual salary. The highest pay went to Diane Fischer, an Assistant Vice President in the Office of the Provost who was paid $315,000. (A total of 698 SUNY employees, many of them healthcare professionals, were paid more than Hochul).

Unlike SUNY, the Research Foundation is not subject to New York’s onerous civil service rules or its public-sector collective bargaining law, the Taylor Law. 

“On one hand, the growing importance of the Research Foundation is evidence of how much more flexible and efficient SUNY could be if lawmakers reformed New York’s civil service laws,” said Ken Girardin, research director. “On the other hand, it raises questions about how much SUNY does that might be better left to other institutions or the private sector altogether.” 

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.