NYS pay panel denies pay raises for elected officials and raises salaries for agency heads

ALBANY – The state payroll board has decided it will not increase the salaries of lawmakers and elected officials across the state, but has approved increasing the salaries of 40 agency commissioners by as much as 20%, with another 2% in two years time.

Members of the Committee on Legislative, Judicial & Executive Compensation said the decision reflects years of underpayment of agency heads. Advocates said top executives’ salaries have exceeded the union wages of many of their employees and are lower than the salaries of many comparable jobs in New York City government.

Commission members Helene Blank and R. Nadine Fontaine said the pay increases are necessary so the state can attract and retain the best talent.

The action means salaries will increase from $220,000 to $245,000 for commissioners at the largest agencies, including the departments of health care, environmental conservation, transportation and corrections.

Commissioners in a smaller number of agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Gaming Commission and the Liquor Authority, will receive $225,000, up from $220,000 now.

The heads of the next lower level agencies, including the workers’ compensation agency and the athletic commission, would receive $200,000, up from $170,000. And the lowest tier of state workers, including members of the parole board and public service commission, will be paid $190,000, an increase of $159,200.

The increases take effect on January 1. The jobs’ salaries would rise another 2% in 2027, below a similar cost-of-living increase that the Pay Commission gave to state judges last year, along with their immediate raises.

Part of the debate that led to the commission’s decisions focused on a limit on the amount of outside revenue that elected officials could collect.

A lawsuit by Republican lawmakers challenges a 2022 law that placed a $35,000 cap on outside income as a condition for senators, Assembly members and statewide elected officials to receive raises.

At the October Pay Commission public hearing, good government advocates Reinvent Albany and the New York Public Interest Research Group said the cap on elected officials’ outside income is important to protect against conflicts of interest between their public jobs and their employers, customers or the field in which they work.

The groups urged the commission to deny any wage increase until a ceiling on outside income is set.

This week the wage commission said that previous court rulings tie its hands.

“We simply do not have the authority to attach policy conditions to our action, beyond the issue of wage increases,” said Chairman Eugene M. Fahey, a retired Court of Appeals judge.

The commission meets every four years after a general election, so the decision not to increase state lawmakers’ salaries is good for at least four years.

Justin Wilcox of the business-backed group Upstate United applauded the commission’s decision. He said another wage increase would have been “a slap in the face to all New Yorkers who were struggling to make ends meet.”