October 29, 2008
State workforce grows under Spitzer-Paterson
Since October 2006 , the state payroll has increased by nearly 8,000 full-time equivalent employees, the Empire Center reports in a print edition of Public Payroll Watch.
The report calculates the cost of the 7,979 employees added during the Spitzer and Paterson administrations is $700 million a year in additional compensation costs, including benefits and payroll taxes.
According to the state comptroller's office, the state payroll totaled 239,830 FTEs as of the first pay period in October. The average state worker's salary is $59,717, up 8 percent since 2006. The total cost per employee, including benefits and payroll taxes, now comes to $86,858.
The report comes as Governor David Paterson announced Tuesday that the state faces a $12.5 billion budget gap in the coming fiscal year.
To read "Two-Year Rise in State Payroll May Add $700 Million in Costs" (which includes a chart showing hiring by agencies), see here.
Update on pensions: State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced the Common Retirement Fund, worth $154 billion in March, has lost 20 percent of its value since then. In NY Fiscal Watch, E.J. McMahon notes that , unless the stock market rebounds, taxpayers will be forced to make up the $31 billion pension fund loss.
For news stories, see here, here, and here.
Earlier a spokesman for DiNapoli had refused a news media request for information about pension losses, saying it could "create anxiety".
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