Canton’s village police officers were the highest-paid group of local government employees last year, according to the Empire Center’s 2015 “What They Make” report. The nine police officers were paid an average of $73,729.

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 North Country data also show:

• Dr. David Rosner, who worked both in the Jefferson County jail and the Lewis County General Hospital, topped the list of local government employees who had multiple employers. Rosner was paid $29,561 by Jefferson County, and at least $260,000 by Lewis County.
• St. Lawrence county employees were the North Country’s highest-paid county employees, averaging $43,764. The average county employee in the North Country was paid $40,140.
• Nine of the 50 highest-paid local government employees in New York worked at North Country public hospitals owned by Lewis County or the town of Massena.

The ten highest-paid local government employees in the North Country (Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence 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.