$200,000 cops: why NY property taxes keep soaring
Wonder why New York property taxes are sky-high, particularly in the Long Island and Lower Hudson Valley suburbs around the city? The Empire Center’s latest analysis flags one key reason: the astounding pay doled out to government workers in those areas — especially uniformed services, like police and firefighters.
For the second year in a row, the center found, 47 of the top 50 highest-paid local-government workers outside New York City were police officers — with five of the top seven on the Town of Ramapo payroll.
The No. 1 earner, Ramapo Police Officer Thomas Donnelly, pulled in $441,968 in the year ending last March. Four other Rockland County cops joined him in the top 10.
The 20 officers in the Nassau County Village of Kings Point (pop. 5,005 in the last Census) had the highest average pay of any group of government workers at $220,088.
We don’t begrudge first responders being paid what they’re worth, but these cops and firefighters, some in tiny hamlets, earn far more than their New York City counterparts.
“Personnel costs are the biggest part of most local government budgets, and thereby the biggest driver behind our high property taxes,” notes the Empire Center’s Tim Hoefer. Westchester and Rockland have the highest property-tax rates of all US counties.
Unless New York gets a handle on inflated salaries at all levels of government, property taxes will only keep climbing higher.