Overtime spending for New York state employees jumped 21% last year to a record $1.64 billion, fueled largely by soaring costs within the state prison system, according to a new report released Thursday by the Empire Center for Public Policy.
The report, based on 2025 payroll data posted through the watchdog group’s SeeThroughNY database, found 102 state employees earned more than $200,000 in overtime pay alone last year — more than four times the total recorded in 2024. Ninety-three of those workers were employed by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
The highest overtime earner statewide was Juan Soto, a corrections lieutenant at Cayuga Correctional Facility, who collected $442,633 in overtime and $583,015 in total compensation. Other top earners included corrections lieutenants at Five Points, Upstate and Washington correctional facilities, each receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime pay.
Overall, the number of state employees earning six figures in overtime more than doubled from 610 to 1,504 in a single year, according to the report.
The Empire Center said overtime costs were heavily concentrated among a relatively small number of workers. The top 10% of overtime earners accounted for nearly half of all overtime dollars paid statewide, totaling approximately $793 million.
The report identified the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS, as the primary driver behind the spike. Overtime spending within the agency surged 54% year-over-year to $711 million.
DOCCS paid a total of $2.5 billion to its roughly 24,400 employees last year, with workers averaging more than $101,000 in total compensation. Roughly one-third of that average came from overtime pay alone.
Correctional lieutenants were among the highest-paid workers in the prison system. The report found 451 lieutenants across the state’s prison facilities averaged more than $222,000 in annual compensation.
Several correctional facilities in the Finger Lakes and western New York region also ranked high for overtime-heavy payrolls. Correctional officers at Auburn Correctional Facility averaged more than $43,000 in overtime pay and nearly $120,000 in total annual compensation, according to the report. Officers at Cayuga Correctional Facility averaged roughly $46,000 in overtime pay.
Outside the prison system, the New York State Police recorded the highest average pay among major state agencies at nearly $129,000 per employee, while overtime spending within the agency increased 14% to $125 million.
The report also found New York’s total state payroll climbed from $19.4 billion to $22.5 billion in 2025, a roughly 7% increase. Statewide, 2,450 employees earned more than Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $250,000 annual salary.
At the top of the statewide payroll list was John King, chancellor of the State University of New York system, who earned more than $1 million in total compensation last year.
The Empire Center attributed part of the broader payroll growth to the deployment of thousands of National Guard members during the statewide prison strike in early 2025, which nearly doubled payroll spending within the Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
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