The number of public sector employees in New York State paid over $100K has grown mysteriously, says Libertarian Governor candidate Warren Redlich. A review of the seethroughny.net database shows a disturbing trend.
“On the campaign trail, I’ve been telling people that 90,000 bureaucrats in New York make over $100K,” Redlich said. “I was wrong.” He was basing that on old numbers from 2008. It turns out it’s a lot more.
Updated data on seethroughny.net for 2008 now shows over 99,000 public sector employees made over $100K. But the 2009 numbers show nearly 110,000 made six figures, with over 1400 bureaucrats making over $200,000.
Some examples on the 2009 list include:
Stephen Onesti, Downstate Medical Center – $958,047
Paul Le Clerc, New York Public Library – $688,777
Matthew Goldstein, CUNY – $546,112
Thomas Purtill, Clarkstown Police – $543,416
Brian Monahan, Haverstraw-Stony Point Central Schools – $485,274
Thomas Redmond, LIRR Conductor – $239,148
Le Clerc is an example of the data problems – his pay does not appear in the 2008 figures.
Redlich proposes a pay cap of $100K for public sector employees (with some limited exceptions) and a pension cap at $75K. On salaries alone the cap would save state and local governments over $2 billion in the first year, with additional savings in pension costs.
Andrew Cuomo, Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino, the Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor, have been silent on the pay cap idea. Redlich called on them today to take a public position on the issue of capping public sector pay.
“If we want to protect our teachers and our parks, we have to cut somewhere else,” Redlich insisted, “so let’s start at the top. I challenge Cuomo, Lazio and Paladino to tell the people what they’ll do about these outrageous payrolls.”
Below is an image of the top of the list of payrolls. Click on the image to see it in full size.
