Syracuse’s 789 uniformed police and fire employees were the highest-paid group of local government employees in Central New York last year, averaging $85,367, according to the Empire Center’s 2015 “What They Make” report.
The report uses pay data reported to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The amounts listed in the report do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance or employer pension contributions, which can add 35 percent or more to the cost for taxpayers.
Users can search the 175,327 pay records of town, city, county and village employees on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website. The Central New York data also show:
- Onondaga County employees were the highest-paid county employees in the region, averaging $48,650.
- David W. Murphy, Senior Vice President at Onondaga Community College, was the highest-paid local government employee in Central New York. Murphy was paid $200,260.
- Auburn had the highest-paid general employees among the region’s cities. The 152 employees were paid an average of $45,454, more than $4,000 more than the average in number-two ranked Syracuse.
The ten highest-paid local government employees in the Central New York Region (Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego Counties) were:
The Empire Center is a non-partisan, non-profit independent think tank based in Albany. SeeThroughNY includes payroll and pension data for state and local government employees and retirees; detailed expenditure data for the state Legislature; comparative statistics on local government spending; a searchable database of state revenue and expenditures; and copies of all teacher union contracts and superintendent of schools contracts.
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