Local government is a labor-intensive business, and employee compensation is the single biggest element of most municipal budgets. The 2012-13 edition of What They Make, the Empire Center's annual report on public payrolls, allows New York taxpayers to compare this key element of local government costs around the state... Read More
Workers in five Westchester cities have the highest average municipal salaries among city employees in the state outside of New York City, a report released Thursday by the Empire Center for Public Policy found. The report, which covered April 2012 to March 2013, also found county workers in the Lower Hudson Valley are among the best paid at that level of government. Westchester County employees earned the highest average salary at $80,322, followed by Putnam workers at $66,537. Rockland employees ranked fifth in the state at $61,764. Two Westchester correction officers were among the 10 highest-paid employees overall in the state, each raking in about $275,000 — more than double their base pay. Read More
Local governments in New York had a nearly 9 percent increase in full and part-time employees in the past fiscal year, but the average salary dropped, a report Thursday found. The dichotomy suggested that local governments may be hiring workers, but they are being paid less, and government is relying more on part-time help, the report from the Empire Center for Public Policy found. Read More
County employees in Westchester earned an average of $80,322 a year in 2012-13, according to a report released by the Empire Center on Thursday. That was the highest paid county employee average in the state. Read More
City of Schenectady employees have the highest average pay of any city employees in the Capital Region for the last fiscal year, according to a report compiled by the non-partisan fiscal watchdog Empire Center. Read More
The city of Kingston had the lowest average pay for municipal employees at $42,103, according to a report released Thursday by the Empire Center. Read More
Police work, firefighting and health care are among the best-paying occupations in the public sector, according to a survey released on Thursday. Downstate police and firefighter salaries top the municipal list, with many well into the six figures, according to the fifth annual look at local government salaries by Empire Center for Public Policy, an independent non-profit think tank based in Albany. Read More
By a variety of measures, New York is easily the nation's most heavily taxed big city. In devising a strategy for competing economically on both a global and regional basis, New York’s next mayor needs to recognize that the city can’t tax with impunity... Read More