OBSERVER Staff Report

Only one state employee in the area earns more than state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to the seethroughny.net web site.

On Thursday, the Empire Center reported all state government payroll records had been updated for 2017. At the top of the list locally is State University of New York President Virginia Horvath. In her role leading the institution, Horvath earned $221,695.

While the university had the highest area state earner, others institutions, including the Lakeview Shock Incarceration Facility in Brocton and the Collins Correctional Facility, were also represented.

Some other interesting items from the list included:

¯ The highest-paid employee on the state payroll was Carlos Pato, dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. His pay totaled $746,626.

¯ 3,568 state government employees were paid more than Cuomo’s $179,000 salary.

¯ The 100 highest-paid state government employees worked for either the State University of New York or the City University of New York. The list includes two SUNY football coaches: Stony Brook’s Charles Priore at $418,219 and Buffalo’s Lance Leipold at $413,992.

¯ Four SUNY campus and hospital administrators received annual salary increases of more than $100,000. They were Thomas Gray, vice president for finance and CFO of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, whose base pay was boosted by $225,000 — 90 percent — to $475,000; Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, whose base pay was boosted by $150,000 — 57 percent — to $415,000; Mitchell Wallerstein, president of Baruch College, whose base pay was boosted by $100,000 — 33 percent to $400,000; and James B. Milliken, chancellor of CUNY, whose base pay was boosted by $180,000 — 37 percent — to $670,000. Milliken announced recently that he will be retiring at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

Other than Horvath, the other top 15 highest earners at area facilities were: Teresa M. Brown, SUNY Fredonia, $175,682; Kevin Kearns, SUNY Fredonia, $174,807; Ian Caisley, Lakeview Shock, $172,737; Ken Jin, Collins Correctional, $171,615; Christina M. Misa, Collins Correctional, $169,924; Russell Boisjoly, SUNY Fredonia, $168,438; Cedric Howard, SUNY Fredonia, $166,619.

James Jerreld, Collins Correctional, $160,813; Edward Rice III, Collins Correctional, $159,067; Joe Williams, Collins Correctional, $154,509; Betty Gossett, SUNY Fredonia, $153,040; Christine Givner, SUNY Fredonia, $152,495; Vincent Costello, Collins Correctional, $151,860; Ralph Blasting, SUNY Fredonia, $150,749.

Total payroll at SUNY Fredonia was listed as $46.5 million for 2017.

Salaries listed in the report do not include the health and pension benefits that make up the total compensation of an employee.