New York

Think Tank Reveals Highest Paid Employees on New York State Government Payroll

What to Know

  • Empire Center, a non-profit, independent think-tank, revealed the highest-paid employees on the New York state payroll
  • A SUNY college dean is the highest paid the state payroll — raking in over $700,000 last year
  • According to Empire Center, 3,568 state government employees were paid more than Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

A newly-released list reveals New York's highest-paid state employees of 2017.

A college dean is the highest paid the state payroll — raking in over $700,000 last year, according to the list compiled by the organization Empire Center.

Carlos Pato, the dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, earned $746,626 in 2017.

The Empire Center is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies to better the state of New York.

The second highest earner was also an employee at Downstate Medical Center. Assistant Professor Siyamek Neragi-Miandoab earned $744,849.

According to Empire Center, 3,568 state government employees were paid more than Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year. Cuomo's salary totaled $178,509.

The 100 top earners worked for either the State University of New York or the City University of New York, the data shows.

The list includes two football coaches for SUNY: Stony Brook’s Charles Priore, who earned $418,219, and Buffalo’s Lance Leipold, whose salary was $413,992.

According to Empire City’s data, four SUNY campus and hospital administrators received an annual salary increase of more than $100,000, including Thomas Gray, the vice president for finance and CFO of SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

Gray’s base pay increased by $225,000 — or 90 percent — to $475,000 last year, data shows.

The highest paid employee in the judicial branch of the state is Joseph Lorintz, a Supreme Court Justice in Nassau County's 10th Judicial District. Lorintz earned a state salary of $227,900 in 2017.

Sen. Francis Patience was the highest paid employee in the legislative branch of New York. In 2017, she earned $188,237, according to Empire Center.

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