Lewis County employees held nine of the North Country’s ten highest-paid local government positions in fiscal year 2025-26, most of them physicians and medical staff, according to payroll data submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). Jeffery Hellinger, a Lewis County employee, was the highest paid, at $265,978.

Statewide, the 179,222 employees of New York’s counties, cities, towns and villages outside New York City were paid a total of $12.0 billion in fiscal year 2025-26, an average of $67,037, according to the Empire Center’s annual What They Make 2026 report. The North Country’s 8,723 employees averaged $47,999, the lowest of the state’s nine regions outside New York City.

Local governments in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties paid a total of $419 million. Only 5.2 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, the smallest share of any region and compared with about one in five statewide.

Among the findings:

• Seven Lewis County employees were reported at exactly $250,000, the pension earnings limit for Tier 6 members, so their actual pay was likely higher. Lewis County’s payroll includes physicians and medical staff of the Lewis County Health System.
• Counting the county and all of its towns and villages, Lewis County’s local payrolls came to $2,348 per resident, second only to Hamilton County in the state. Essex County, home to Lake Placid, was fifth in the state at $1,427.
• Jefferson County employees averaged $59,682, the highest of any county in the region.
• Plattsburgh had the highest city average in the region, at $62,385. Watertown had the largest city payroll, $25.6 million for 466 employees, and spent $1,035 per resident.
• The Village of Lake Placid’s employees averaged $64,814, the highest of any village in the region. Measured per year-round resident, its payroll came to $2,146, the sixth-highest of any village in the state.
• Watertown’s 148 police and fire employees averaged $88,319. Among departments with at least 10 employees, the Village of Canton’s was the region’s best paid, at $92,953.
• Records for Daniel Moyer appear on the payrolls of 14 towns and one village in St. Lawrence County, for combined pay of $57,402.

Ten Highest-Paid Local Government Employees – North Country

The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.

Payroll records for every North Country county, city, town, village and special district can be searched at the Empire Center's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. The full statewide report, What They Make 2026, includes searchable pay figures for every local government outside New York City.

The Empire Center is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in Albany.