Albany, New York — The number of New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) retirees receiving six-figure pensions has nearly quadrupled over the past decade, growing from 2,075 in 2012 to 8,237 in 2022, according to new data posted today on the Empire Center's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.
The new data includes pension information for 1,535 newly retired police and firefighters with 20 years of service who are enrolled in the New York State Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). In 2021, PFRS retirees received more than $2.1 billion in combined pension benefits. The average pension payment for newly retired police and firefighters was $87,347.
While PFRS retirees make up just 9 percent of the most recent cohort of NYSLRS pension recipients, they account for at least 55 percent of those receiving six-figure pensions, according to the newly posted report. data, It contains pension data for 462,568 NYSLRS members.
“The generous pensions paid to New York's public servants stand in stark contrast to the benefits most New Yorkers receive when they retire from the private sector,” said Peter Warren, research director at the Empire Center. “Most New Yorkers won't retire with a defined benefit pension, much less a six-figure annual benefit. But their tax dollars fund public servant retirees' pensions, which are a growing burden on the state budget, and the recent downturn in the financial markets in which these funds are invested has made that burden even greater.”
The largest new pension recipient was retired Nassau Healthcare Corporation physician Richard Batista, who received $339,873. He was the 41st person to receive the pension. Other new and existing NYSLRS retirees He receives a pension of more than $200,000.
At the end of fiscal year 2010, when the Empire Center first published the list on SeeThroughNY, there were only 1,378 six-figure pensioners in the NYSLRS..
Based in Albany, the Empire Center is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to advancing policies that make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.
