Public health officials were the highest paid in the state last year and among the highest overtime earners, with many collecting more than the governor.
State government payroll, which includes including overtime and benefits, grew 8% to $21 billion last year, driven by salaries at SUNY, including its public hospitals, according to the conservative-leaning think tank Empire Center, which tracks state employee compensation. Forty-six of the top 100 highest-paid state employees worked at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Stony Brook University Hospital.
Two government employees, Upstate University Hospital CEO Robert Corona and SUNY Chancellor John King, are the first state workers to ever collect over $1 million outside of lump-sum retroactive pay, according to Empire Center, which obtained last year’s payroll data through Freedom of Information requests. Both made roughly $1.01 million, including their base salaries and perks like housing and car allowance.
The payroll reflects the large portion of the state budget that goes to SUNY and health care more broadly, and the competitive hiring market for health system executives. The compensation is the outcome of individual and bargaining unit contracts, said Abdullah Ar Rafee, a data manager who oversees Empire Center’s payroll database, known as SeeThroughNY. A spokesperson for the university defended the high executive pay as in-line with leaders at other state universities.
“The SUNY Chancellor oversees the nation’s largest statewide comprehensive system of public higher education, and his compensation reflects his outstanding performance driving SUNY’s accomplishments and progress over the last two years,” said SUNY Press Secretary Holly Liapis.
SUNY payroll continued its year-over-year increases, hitting $5 billion for more than 70,000 employees. The spending increase was driven largely by more hiring and pay boosts. Roughly 25% of the annual increase was due to a $130 million boost to employees after collective bargaining with United University Professions, Liapis said. The university also hired the equivalent of 500 full-time staff and non-nurse clinical staff, accounting for $35 million and $59 million, respectively. Nurse payroll increased by $26 million, driven primarily by a salary boost, though the number of nurses also increased.
Many of the highest-paid state employees are either high-ranking executives – CEOs and deans – or medical professionals.
“If you’re a doctor with management abilities, you can charge a high rate for your work,” said Bill Hammond, a senior health policy fellow at Empire Center.
In total, 1,794 employees made more than Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $250,000 salary last year, of which more than 900 were part of the SUNY system. That is in part possible because SUNY is a quasi-independent entity where employee pay is not governed by the same statutes that control other public officer compensation.
Overtime spending also ballooned by 11% last year, led by the Corrections Department and the Office of Mental Health.
Two employees at Kirby Forensic and Creedmoor, two of the biggest psychiatric institutions in the city, each took in over $250,000 in overtime, more than double their base salaries.
