Westchester County pays county employees more than any county in the state, according to a new report from the Albany-based Empire Center.
The group released its annual “What They Make” report Wednesday, with Westchester County employees shown to get larger paychecks than employees in any county in New York outside of New York City. Police and fire staff were in a separate category than other municipal government workers.
Westchester has 269 police and fire jobs, which pay an average of $184,865 ”“ well above Nassau County, which ranked second with an average of $157,632. Government employees in Westchester received an average salary of $76,652, which was nearly $10,000 more than Suffolk, which had the second-highest county average.
Government salaries of local towns, villages and cities also stood out. The highest-paid city government employees in the state were all in Westchester communities ”“ with Yonkers, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Rye and White Plains making up the top 5 with salary averages ranging from $61,129 to $70,319. Police and fire employees in Yonkers, Rye and Peekskill made an average of $116,959, $116,917 and 112,154, which were third, fourth and fifth in the state.
Ramapo led towns in both government and police and fire salaries, $72,264 and $164,847 on average. Harrison and Cortlandt made the top five in most-expensive government salaries for towns, with Harrison ranking third with a $66,403 average and Cortlandt ranking fifth with $61,970 on average. Mount Kisco had the fifth-best paid police and fire staff, with an average of $138,927.
The statistics do not include fringe costs or benefits.
