Patricia R. Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman Ulster County’s top elected officials are in line for pay raises during the upcoming year under a proposal under consideration by county lawmakers. Legislator Abe Uchitelle has introduced an amendment to the proposed 2023 county budget that would increase the salaries of the county executive, clerk, sheriff and comptroller as proposed earlier this year by the Ulster County Periodic Review Committee. That committee is required by law to meet every two years to review and consider changes to elected officials’ salaries and recommended pay hikes for all the county elected officials except the district attorney, whose salary is not within the county’s control. As proposed, the salaries of the county executive comptroller, sheriff and county clerk would all increase by $15,000 in 2023. “There’s a lot of evidence that I believe supports making this change,” said Uchitelle during a budget review meeting of the Legislature Ways and Means Committee on November 17. Comptroller March Gallagher said an analysis by her office showed the county clerk's salary has been stagnant since 2005. The salaries of the executive, comptroller and sheriff have not changed since 2009. That analysis also determined the current salaries of elected leaders in those positions to be “way under” the salaries paid to their peers in neighboring counties. The PRC also recommended increasing the salaries of county legislators by $2,000 for rank-and-file legislators, the Legislature’s majority and minority leaders and for the assistant majority and minority leaders. The committee also recommended a $2,500 pay hike for the Legislature chairman. But because lawmakers cannot increase their own salaries mid-term, any changes to legislative salaries would not take effect until 2024. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.