Erie County deputy sheriff Simon Biegasiewicz was Western New York’s highest-paid local government employee in fiscal year 2025-26, at $305,077, followed by Buffalo firefighter Daniel Bossi at $300,488, according to payroll data submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). They were the only two local employees in the region paid more than $300,000.

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. Western New York’s 22,397 employees averaged $61,841, third among the state’s nine regions outside New York City, behind Long Island and the Mid-Hudson.

Local governments in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara counties paid a total of $1.39 billion. A total of 16.1 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, compared with about one in five statewide, and 13 were paid more than Governor Hochul’s $250,000 salary.

Among the findings:

• Erie County Sheriff’s Office personnel held four of the region’s ten highest-paid positions. Erie County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gale Burstein was paid $258,879.
• Erie County’s 5,326 employees averaged $70,591, the highest of any county in the region and ninth among the state’s 57 counties outside New York City.
• Buffalo had the highest city average in the region, $83,528 for 2,831 employees, ninth among the state’s 61 cities. Its 1,389 police and fire employees averaged $111,079.
• The Town of Amherst had the region’s largest town payroll, $56.9 million for 846 employees. Lancaster’s town employees averaged $68,883, the highest of any town in the region.
• The Town of Orchard Park’s police and fire employees averaged $145,727, the highest in the region, followed by the Village of Hamburg ($127,300), the Town of Amherst ($126,964), the Town of Hamburg ($122,530) and Cheektowaga ($115,279).
• Local government payrolls came to $977 per resident in Western New York, compared with $1,054 statewide. Cattaraugus County spent $1,251 per resident, counting the county and all of its cities, towns and villages, the eighth-highest of any county in the state. Salamanca’s $1,199 per resident was the sixth-highest of any city.

Ten Highest-Paid Local Government Employees – Western New York

Deputy sheriffs and county correction officers are classified as general employees in the NYSLRS data. Three employees in the region were reported at exactly $250,000, the pension earnings limit for Tier 6 members, so their actual pay was likely higher. The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.

Payroll records for every Western New York 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.

Source for Burstein's title: Erie County, December 22, 2025.