A Ramapo town police officer who collected $323,562 was New York State’s highest paid local government employee outside New York City during the 12 months ending March 31, according to the 2018 edition of “What They Make,” the Empire Center’s annual analysis of local government pay.

The report features the average pay and number of employees for the counties, cities, towns and villages outside New York City during the 12 months ending March 31, 2018, and includes separate averages and totals for uniformed police and fire employees. The data used to generate the report, including a breakdown by name and employer are searchable on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website.

The newest data show that, among active local government workers belonging to the New York State and Local Retirement System:

• New York’s highest-paid local government employee in 2017-18 was Thomas J. Cokeley, a Ramapo town police captain, who was paid $323,562.
• Forty-seven of the 50 highest-paid local employees were police officers. Fourteen of them worked for the Nassau County Police Department. Among the 10 highest-paid employees, three (including Cokeley) were town police officers in Ramapo.
• The highest average pay reported for any group of local employees was the $223,935 paid to Village of Kings Point’s 19 police officers, up slightly from the $220,088 village officers averaged last year. The highest average pay among non-uniformed employees was $97,468 paid to 12 Sands Point village employees.

Click here to read the full report.

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.