Legislature raises county clerk chair salary, adds fiscal technician and approves records-scanning capital purchase

The Rules Committee voted to amend a proposed local law fixing compensation for the county clerk. The committee approved an amendment to increase the 2026 starting salary from $132,000 to $135,000 and to apply annual increases thereafter consistent with the schedule the legislature approved for other elected officials. The amended local law passed by voice vote.

Chairman Kevin Himes explained the original proposal and noted the amendment would make the county clerk's salary comparable to statutory committee chairs and similar positions in neighboring counties. One legislator compared proposed salaries to Dutchess and Rockland counties during debate and moved the amendment, which the committee approved.

Separately, committee members approved a personnel change in the county clerk's office to create a fiscal technician position. The clerk's office said the role would professionalize and consolidate work currently performed by a grade-8 principal account clerk; staff handle about $56 million in annual receipts and multiple bank accounts, daily deposits, monthly and quarterly reporting and additional responsibilities such as wire transfers and electronic court-filing fees.

The committee also approved a $50,000 capital project appropriation to buy a high-capacity scanner. The clerk's office said outside vendors already scanned many records at a cost of roughly $300,000 over the last two years; purchasing in-house scanning capacity would lower future costs, increase public access and protect fragile documents. The motion to appropriate $50,000 passed by voice vote.

All three measures were advanced by the committee; implementation steps include updating payroll and personnel records for the county clerk compensation change, completing the job-classification and recruitment steps for the fiscal technician, and procuring the scanner through the county capital process.