Lawmakers consider proposals for term limits, longer terms

KINGSTON, N.Y. » Ulster County lawmakers could decide this month whether to let voters decide on longer terms for county legislators and on term limits for some elected officials.

Freshman Legislator Joseph Maloney, an independent from Saugerties, has introduced the two measures, which would fundamentally change the way the county’s elected officials serve.

One proposal would increase the term of an Ulster County legislator to four years from the current two years.

A second proposal would limit to 12 years the number

of years that Ulster County legislators, the county executive and the county comptroller could serve.

In April, the Legislature defeated a single proposal to have voters decide whether to both lengthen the terms of county legislators and limit the years most elected county officials could serve, with Minority

Leader Hector Rodriguez, DNew Paltz, saying linking the two issues was like “bizarre Siamese twins.”

A public hearing on the original proposal in March drew mixed reviews. Most speakers supported the idea

of term limits, saying that limiting the time an elected official serves would bring new people and new ideas to the county government. Extending the length of a legislator’s term, however,

didn’t garner as much support, with critics saying there was no reason to extend the terms and arguing that two-year terms were intended to give voters a chance to quickly remove legislators who aren’t representing their constituents.

In June, hearings on the two proposals garnered no

public comment.

The proposals will go to the Legislature’s Laws and Rules and Governmental Services committees later this month. If passed by both committees, the measures will go to the full Legislature, which will decide whether to allow the proposals to go before voters on the November ballot.