Term Limits Coming For Politicians in Westen New York?

If approved by the elected officials, legislators representing Erie County, including the county executive, might be limited on the number of years they’re allowed to serve and the number of times they can be re-elected.

Legislator John Bargnesi, who represents the Tonawandas and Grand Island, has proposed a bill within the Erie County Legislature that would impose a limit on all new office holders of serving three terms within the county’s government. The bill, if approved by the body, would apply to the whole legislature: all representatives, county executive, comptroller, sheriff, clerk, and district attorney.

When introducing the bill, Bargnesi said he implemented a similar regulation in Tonawanda after defeating someone for his chair who had served for 30 years. “We need new people and new opportunities,” he said at the time.

It is worth noting that the previous district attorney, John Flynn, spoke in favor of term limits before he left office earlier this year.

Last year, before he was re-elected as county executive, Mark Poloncarz said he would not run for election again, but now he’s speaking out against the proposal, saying he would veto any bill passed by the legislature and that term limits already exist in the form of elections.

If the legislature wanted to pass the bill and override Poloncarz’s veto, at least eight of the 11 members of the legislature would need to vote in support of the measure.

Poloncarz did say he’s in favor of part of Bargnesi’s proposal: Changing the length of a term from two to four years. That means, if the bill passes, county legislators would serve a maximum of 12 years total.

It would also allow for a shift in when seats are up for election, in keeping with a new law in New York State.

If approved, legislators would be elected to a single one-year term in 2025 before being eligible to run for a four-year term in 2026 and able to serve three terms following that cycle.

For the comptroller, the successful candidate in the 2025 election would have a three-year term that would end in 2028; the three-term limit would begin with the 2028 victor.

For the Erie County Sheriff, the winner of the 2025 election would serve a three-year term, similar to the comptroller, with the three-term limit kicking in after the 2028 election.

The Erie County Executive elected in 2027 would serve a three-year term until the 2030 election, at which point the three-term limit would begin.

Paul Wolf, an attorney and president of the New York Coalition for Open Government, said he generally supports the proposal, offering that he’d prefer a shorter limit of eight years, or two terms, instead of three, to allow for a “completely open office” that would bring “newer people in office, newer perspectives, and just not the same old politician gamesmanship.”

It’s possible this proposal could have bipartisan approval, but Legislator Chris Greene, a Republican, said he needed to see the updated bill in order to fully support it.

The legislature offered a public hearing on the proposal during a regular session Tuesday night but only two members of the public signed up to speak about it.

The goal is for the legislature to vote on the proposal before summer break, sending it to the board of elections for consideration in the hopes of having it on the ballot for voters in November in what is sure to be a high-turnout election.