KINGSTON – Saying a proposed local law establishing term limits for certain elected county officials is “legally flawed,” Ulster County Executive Michael Hein vetoed the measure.
In his veto message, Hein said the proposed local law requires a mandatory referendum of voters before it can take effect, and while that is “admirable, a municipalities may do so only when it is permitted by state law.”
Hein also said state law “does not provide municipalities the authority for the establishment of term limits by this method.” He wrote that it has been long established in New York that a local government may not hold a referendum without specific authorization by the state legislature. “Therefore, the county cannot hold the referendum required by proposal local law no. 15 of 2018 unless there is state statutory authority, and in this case there is no such authority to do so,” he wrote.
Aside from the legal issues, Hein said he is also “concerned with the connection of this local law to Reclaim New York and the Mercers.” He said allowing the local law to go into effect “would be opening the door for ‘dark money’ groups to have an impact on Ulster County government and Ulster County elections as they have attempted to do elsewhere, and this is directly adverse to my commitment to protect the great residents of Ulster County.”
