Most of High Earners Were Either with Police or Fire Departments
By Hank Russell
The Empire Center just released a report that found that 475 government workers in New York State made more than $300,000 during the 2024-25 fiscal year. Of that, 363 were from Long Island — 210 from Suffolk and 153 from Nassau. (This does not include those in New York City). Most of these workers were either with local police or fire departments.
In its “What They Make” report, the top salary belonged to Curt L. Beaudry, a police/patrol officer in Nassau County. The highest-paid Suffolk employee was Franklin R. Abramowitz, who pulled in $401,000 as a police officer.
The rest of the top 10 highest paid officers were from Suffolk: Everett P. Wehr ($388,088), Guido R. Cirenza ($385,979), William L. Behrens ($385,608), Donal J. Hughes ($383,285), Joseph E. Collins ($382,303), Stephen C. Guyer ($379,872), James T. Zappulla ($379.431) and Marco Giudice ($379,105).
The Empire Center also found that 1,700 local government employees made more money than Governor Kathy Hochul, who earns $250,000 a year.
According to the report, Nassau had the highest-paid government workers, with an average annual salary of $120,420. That is 9.3% higher than the previous year. Suffolk’s workers averaged $101,119. Additionally, of all the regions in the state, Long Island had the highest-paid workers — mostly driven by police and fire officials’ pay — with an average pay of $165,244.
The report also found that 46 Nassau County correction officers received more than $300,000, compared to three the previous year. It was also reported that the county’s 731 correction officers were the state’s highest paid, averaging $151,568 a year. The previous year, Nassau employed 707 correction officers making $126,346. The highest-paid correction officer was Enrique Sewer, who was paid $378,238.
When delineated by town, Shelter Island — with 10 police and fire employees — had the highest-paid officers on Long Island with $176,833, according to the Empire Center. Rivehead, which employs 105 fire and police employees, had the second-highest pay with $146,445, followed by Southold (57 employees, $139,756), Southampton (120 employees, $137,173) and East Hampton (75 employees, $134,864).
Among the villages, Kensington — with only six police and fire personnel — topped the list at $256,715). Rounding out the top five were Lake Success (20 employees, $251,792), Sands Point (19 employees, $226,208), Great Neck Estates (14 employees, $226,208) and Lynbrook (50 employees, $225,374).
The information in this report—broken down by region and by type of government—is based on data submitted annually to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) by local governments outside New York City. The NYSLRS data generally does not include specific job titles.
The figures used to compute the pay averages include regular salary, overtime and pay for unused sick and vacation time. However, the figures do not include employer pension contributions, health insurance and other fringe benefits—elements of total compensation that can add 35 percent or more to personnel costs.
“Local government is a labor-intensive business, and employee compensation is the single biggest item in most municipal budgets,” said the report’s author, Abdullah Ar Rafee.