Nassau County police spending drives payroll costs to 10-year high, surpassing Suffolk's

Nassau County paid out nearly $75 million more to its employees in 2023 compared with the year before, the biggest year-over-year jump in a decade driven by significantly higher police salaries, a Newsday analysis shows.

The jump outpaces the $16 million more Suffolk spent paying its employees over the same period. Suffolk’s total payroll increased about 1.4% in 2023, while Nassau's total payroll increased by 7.1%.

Total payroll for each county was around $1.13 billion for 2023, representing roughly a third of total county spending that gets passed on to Long Island taxpayers. 

Newsday analyzed county payroll data from the last 10 years obtained through the state’s Freedom of Information Law. 

Hefty pay for Nassau police

In Nassau, police spending hit a new high in 2023 of $561.2 million, up from $505.5 million from the year before, an 11% increase.

The rise largely stems from a new 8 ½-year union contract settled in January 2023 between the county's Police Benevolent Association and the administration of County Executive Bruce Blakeman. At the time of it's signing, county officials said it was to cost the county $159 million over the period it covers. 

On top of a 15% rise in regular pay over the length of the contract — 1% for the first four years, 2.5% for the following two years and 3% in each of the last two years of the contract — officers had also received lump-sum bonuses and retroactive raises in 2023. 

In 2023, the county spent $43.6 million in general wage increases, retroactive raises and stipends, according to the Nassau County Office of Legislative Budget Review's numbers obtained by Newsday.

While the PBA and Blakeman's office agreed to a 15% raise for officers in regular pay over the life of the contract, Newsday’s analysis of county data found 33% was the typical difference in regular pay between 2022 and 2023.

Despite Newsday obtaining these numbers through public records, Nassau PBA President Thomas Shevlin called them "very inconsistent." 

Regular pay in 2023 reflects a recalculation of their raises, overtime and longevity pay dating back to 2019, using the new hourly rate under the new contract, he explained on Friday.

“We worked without a contract for many years and this is back pay owed for years of hard work and dedication. When you are without a contract you’ll never make up for that difference," Shevlin said in a statement Friday. "It’s a lot more financially responsible to extend contracts rather than let them expire."

Police officer Joseph A. Lamariana, for instance, saw his regular pay rise around 51% from $97,835 in 2022 to $147,361 in 2023, the highest regular pay increase for that year. 

Lamariana was among 1,065 police personnel that got a boost of $25,000 or more in regular pay in 2023. Of that pool, 138 saw an increase of $40,000 or more, and 927 saw a rise of between $25,000 and $40,000. The majority of these earners, 906, are PBA members like Lamariana.  

"Police officers can never be paid enough for what they do. They kiss their loved ones goodbye, they put on a bulletproof vest, they leave their house not knowing if they will return, to risk their lives for strangers,” Shevlin said. 

Blakeman did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Ken Girardin, research director at the Empire Center, an Albany-based conservative fiscal watchdog group, said the state's process for contract talks allows police unions to "hold out at the negotiating table, sometimes for years, confident that they'll get not only pay hikes but also retroactive raises."

But there are consequences, Girardin warned.

"That makes it not only more costly to run police departments but also extremely difficult for management to make changes on contract issues related to body cameras, staffing levels and other things that elected officials can no longer control," Girardin said.

Will Suffolk seek parity?

Suffolk police did not see a similar rise, but its union could potentially use the Nassau salaries as a benchmark in negotiating a new contract after the current agreement expires in December, according to Civello.

"Nassau is always a comparable for us," said Lou Civello, president of the Suffolk County PBA. "They have less years until [they reach] top pay than we do. It's always something that we're looking at."

Lawrence Levy, executive director of the Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, noted that the contractual raises for the majority of the police force's regular pay remain under inflation at a time when governments and private employers are competing for a workforce that has yet to fully return following the "Great Resignation," the pandemic-era workforce trend when workers quit their jobs at high rates.

"So, when you look at government payrolls you have to consider that everyone is competing for the same pool of workers," Levy said. "If I were a county executive or the CEO of a big company and I could be reassured that the pay increase would be held to sub-inflationary figures, I would take that deal over uncertainty."

When asked whether there was concern over raises that bring police pay to a new high, the Nassau Legislature’s Democratic Majority Leader, Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, said in a statement she "wouldn't be concerned if we had a County Executive who was at all focused on managing the County's daily operations instead of playing politics and focusing on self-promotion with subjects that usually have nothing to do with running our County."

'It’s a win'

Law enforcement spending continues to make up the bulk of Suffolk’s payroll.

The Suffolk Police Department payroll increased from about $531.4 million in 2022 to $551.5 million, or by about 3.8%. The department added 51 more police officers in 2023, accounting for most of the department staff increase. And members of the Superior Officers Association, the union that represents the highest-ranking police, received $18.5 million for previously deferred wages, according to the Suffolk County Legislature’s Budget Review Office.

Civello noted the salaries are intended to keep up with the high cost of living on Long Island and that the officers are trained paramedics.

"To keep the payroll relatively flat has been a win for the county. It's a win for the taxpayer," Civello said. "I think my members earn every dollar that they get, and they do a tremendous job."

Payroll in the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office also increased, from $46.6 million in 2022 to $51.2 million in 2023, a near 10% bump, the highest percent increase of any Suffolk department. 

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation, which resulted in the arrest of suspect Rex A. Heuermann in July 2023, has contributed to some of this rise. But he notes most of it was due to state discovery law reform, which requires prosecutors to turn over evidence to defense attorneys in a shorter time frame. Tierney said his office increased its staff to handle this mandate, resulting in increased payroll spending.

"The cost of doing business as prosecutors has risen significantly," Tierney told Newsday. "The numbers bear out that we're increasing our productivity and our results."

Tierney noted his office also secures millions of dollars in grant funding every year to offset costs, including $3.6 million from the state in 2022 and 2023 to help it comply with discovery reform laws.

According to the payroll data, spending in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department was down slightly. Total payroll decreased from about $175.6 million in 2022 to $171.3 million in 2023, and overtime spending dropped from about $45.6 million to $44 million in that time.

Sheriff spokesperson Vicki DiStefano said the department continues to lose staff to departments with more competitive salaries and benefits. For example: longevity pay — a benefit for longtime county workers — is capped at $4,350 in the sheriff’s department but is $22,925 for members of the Suffolk PBA.

The department has about 1,358 members with 140 vacancies, down from 230 vacancies the previous year, DiStefano said. 

"We're trying to determine how we can be as efficient as possible, even with less staff," she said.

High OT earners

Despite efforts to curb overtime, Suffolk County’s top three overtime earners were deputy sheriffs, who pulled in more than $200,000 for working extra hours on top of their regular salaries.

Those employees are assigned to the sheriff’s headquarters and primarily transport prisoners, a role that comes with staffing level mandates and required overtime, DiStefano said.

Deputy Sheriff John Schultz, who did not respond to a request for comment, earned $257,954 in overtime, bringing his total compensation to $387,047 in 2023, according to records. Schultz was the sheriff department’s top overtime earner in 2022, at $214,586, records show.

Suffolk reined in its total overtime costs slightly in that time, from about $137.5 million in 2022 to $134.6 million in 2023.

County employees at the top of the annual payroll list each year receive pay beyond their regular salaries.

Public employees receive termination pay — which can include unused sick and vacation time — when they end their employment. 

In Nassau, 23 employees — all retirees but one — had a total pay of more than $500,000 in 2023.

All but one were members of the police department. Five held the title of police officer. The rest were top brass. All had termination pay in the $300,000 range. The highest termination pay in Nassau was more than $610,000.

Records show at the top of Nassau's list was Michael Falzarano, a special investigator with the district attorney's office, who received $984,979 in 2023, including $875,000 from a legal settlement with the county over a wrongful termination dispute. The settlement was approved by the county legislature in April 2023. Falzarano did not respond to a request for comment. 

The second-highest earner was Police Cpt. Edward J. Perkins Jr., who took home $843,638 in 2023. In addition to his regular salary of $115,631, the county paid Perkins $610,925 in termination pay, more than $34,000 in overtime and more than $82,000 in other pay, according to records.

Superior Officers Association President Ricky Frassetti told Newsday Perkins “deserves the pay package he received for all of his years of service to the people of Nassau County. He spent many nights and weekends away from his family and deserves everything he’s entitled to.”

In Suffolk, 24 employees received more than $500,000 in total pay in 2023. All were members of law enforcement. None held the title of police officer; all were top brass or detectives. Each had termination pay of more than $300,000.

The highest paid Suffolk employee was Christopher Bergold, a police inspector who made $684,226 in 2023, including $152,499 in salary and $433,272 in termination pay. Bergold did not respond to a request for comment.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the 2023 payroll or contract negotiations.