(2010-07-28) Albany Two Payrolls

New York State has two public payrolls, which makes it difficult to measure/shrink. *ne is controlled by the governor, encompassing about 131,000 employees, who toil for agencies like the Health Department, the parks department and the Department of Motor Vehicles. That payroll has shrunk by about 25 percent in the last two decades — so has the much smaller legislative payroll — and usually shoulders the brunt of layoffs.

The other lies beyond the direct control of the governor and includes perhaps 163,000 more workers employed by independent public authorities and agencies — though that number is an estimate, because not all authorities have been reporting their payrolls to a central state registry.* (State Funded Authority)

Public authorities do not directly rely on taxpayer dollars; they draw their revenue from dedicated sources they are created to oversee, like bridge tolls or subway fares. But they do represent state resources, and when giants like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority falter, it falls to the state, or to its residents, to bail them out in the form of fare and toll increases. And their workers do collect state benefits like public Pension-s.