ALBANY, New York (WWNY) – Lewis County employees held nine of the North Country’s ten highest-paid local government positions during the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
The information was released Wednesday by the Empire Center, which describes itself as an Albany-based independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank.
The highest-paid Lewis County employees are doctors and medical staff.
Top earners
The top earner, Jeffery Hellinger, at $265,978, is the CEO of Lewis County Health System.
His predecessor, Gerald Cayer, at $250,000, is among the top ten. He retired in August.
The Empire Center considers the North Country to include Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties.
Around the North Country
It says the North Country’s 8,723 employees averaged $47,999, the lowest of the state’s nine regions outside New York City.
Local governments in the North Country paid a total of $419 million. Only 5.2 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, the smallest share of any region and compared with about one in five statewide.
Statewide, the 179,222 employees of New York’s counties, cities, towns and villages outside New York City were paid a total of $12.0 billion in fiscal year 2025-26, an average of $67,037, according to the Empire Center’s annual What They Make 2026 report.
Among the findings
Seven Lewis County employees were reported at exactly $250,000, the pension earnings limit for Tier 6 members, so their actual pay was likely higher. Lewis County’s payroll includes physicians and medical staff of the Lewis County Health System.
Counting the county and all of its towns and villages, Lewis County’s local payrolls came to $2,348 per resident, second only to Hamilton County in the state.
Jefferson County employees averaged $59,682, the highest of any county in the region.
Watertown had the largest city payroll, $25.6 million for 466 employees, and spent $1,035 per resident.
Watertown’s 148 police and fire employees averaged $88,319.
Among departments with at least 10 employees, the village of Canton’s was the region’s best paid, at $92,953.
Records for Daniel Moyer appear on the payrolls of 14 towns and one village in St. Lawrence County, for combined pay of $57,402. He is a dog control officer for those municipalities.
Data access
The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.
Payroll records for every North Country county, city, town, village and special district can be searched at the Empire Center’s transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.
The full statewide report, What They Make 2026, includes searchable pay figures for every local government outside New York City.
Empire Center says 400 local government employees in New York outside New York City were paid more than $300,000 during fiscal year 2025-26, the large majority of them police officers on Long Island, according to payroll data submitted by local governments to the New York State and Local Retirement System.
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