Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) today announced he has introduced legislation mandating that counties be reimbursed for the increase in state judges’ and county district attorney salaries set to take place this year. In December 2015, the New York State Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation recommended a salary increase for all state judges and county district attorneys in 2016 and 2018.

“This is yet another expensive Albany mandate that, if unaddressed, will hit the wallets of taxpayers the hardest,” Hawley said. “Our state judges and district attorneys do a superb job enforcing the law and bringing criminals to justice, but, as a proponent of local control, I contend that bureaucrats should not be telling our counties what they must pay local officials. Many upstate counties’ budgets are already consumed by expensive costs like Medicaid, which, in some instances, comprise at least 90 percent of the county budget. Spending decisions like these should either be covered by the state or left up to local control. Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for Albany’s irresponsible spending epidemic.”