POUGHKEEPSIE – Members of the Dutchess County Legislature Budget, Finance, and Personnel Committee approved an amendment to the fiscal year 2024 budget that would substantially increase salaries for most elected officials holding county office in 2024. Many of the legislators voting in favor of the pay raise were just re-elected on November 7.
Under the current salary schedule, county legislators are paid $16,391. Under the approved amendment, the rank-and-file members would earn $27,500 each, a 68 percent increase. Caucus leaders would each go from the current $25,113 to $45.600, nearly double for the one Republican and one Democrat. The legislative whips will earn $36,500 annually, up from the current $20,762 salary. The chairman of the legislature will be paid $54,500 compared to the current $34,967 earned by Chairman Gregg Pulver.
For the countywide offices, the increases affect a few offices in 2024, while the comptroller and sheriff will not see salary increases until the beginning of the next term for those offices in 2026.
Sue Serino, the county executive-elect will earn $185,500 annually compared to the $157,424 currently paid to County Executive O’Neil. County Clerk Brad Kendall, who did not seek a salary increase, will see an increase from $119,330 to $150,000 in 2024.
In 2026 the salary for the sheriff will increase from $141,436 to $170,850 while the comptroller will remain one of the lowest paid, with a 2026 salary of $150,000, Comptroller Robin Lois currently earns $112,480 as the county’s financial watchdog.
Legislator Michael Polasek, who chairs the Budget, Finance, and Personnel Committee, defended the proposed raises. “I conducted an exhaustive review of salaries for other elected officials in the Hudson Valley region and reviewed county contractual raises over the past 20 years. Further, had legislators’ salaries followed Dutchess’ largest collective bargaining unit’s annual COLA increase (CSEA) for the past 20 years, a legislator would be compensated roughly $25,000.”
When County Executive Bill O’Neil presented the budget, he cited the contracts with the union employees as being responsible for a major part of the county budget.
Polasek said the proposed pay hikes are “almost identical to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation rate for that time. For those reasons, we believe it was fair and equitable to the hardworking elected officials in their next term and I am pleased it garnered bipartisan support.” One Democrat on the committee voted in favor of the plan.
In neighboring Ulster County, the 2022 salary for county executive was $97,600 and rank-and-file legislators earned $14,000 per year.
Republican Majority Leader Will Truitt also supported the pay raises. “With the proposed salary adjustments, legislators would still be far below the regional average. The county needs to offer salaries to compensate single parents to cover childcare, the nurse who reduces hours so they can do the legislative work, and the business owners who sacrifice their time to serve their community. This proposal is almost identical to what our hard-working union members have received. It’s long overdue which is why the correction is so large.”
A public hearing on the proposed county budget will be on December 4 at 7 p.m. in the Legislature Chambers at the Dutchess County Office Building.
The full county legislature will vote to approve the county spending plan on December 7, 2023.
