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Suffolk voters will soon get to decide whether county legislators should serve longer terms — and fewer of them — under a new measure signed this week by County Executive Ed Romaine.
“This is an opportunity,” Romaine said before signing the Term Limit Preservation Act of 2025 on Friday, July 25 in Hauppauge. “I think voters should have a larger say in the way the government is run.”
The new law puts a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot asking voters whether they support doubling term lengths for Suffolk County legislators — from two to four years — while still capping total service at 12 years.
Early voting begins Oct. 25.
Local Republican leaders say the change is necessary to avoid chaos after a 2023 state law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul moved all local elections to even-numbered years to match state and federal races.
The idea, Hochul said at the time, was to “save taxpayer dollars and avoid voter fatigue.”
But Suffolk lawmakers argue that the change threatens to throw off their election cycles entirely — potentially triggering shortened terms, mid-term resignations and a flurry of special elections.
“This [county] bill comes out of the need for some stability and protection of our term limit laws here in Suffolk County,” said the Legislature’s presiding officer, Kevin McCaffrey.
McCaffrey explained that without the new act, legislators elected in 2025 could hit their 12-year limit in the middle of a four-year term — meaning they’d be forced to resign early. That would lead to costly and disruptive special elections, he said.
“Having to have legislators midterm [resigning] would have created uncertainty and chaos in our election process,” McCaffrey said.
Romaine agreed — and added that he’s still not a fan of the shift to even-year voting.
He said holding local elections during odd-numbered years helps keep the focus on issues that matter here at home, instead of getting swept up in national or state campaigns.
“If the elections stay in even years, I am concerned that local issues will get lost in the shuffle of national and state politics,” Romaine said.
But the new four-year term proposal, he said, might offer a silver lining.
“If you think that less politics and more government’s a good thing, you want to vote for this,” Romaine said, “because then the legislators can spend less time campaigning and more time doing the work of local government.”
The referendum will appear on the ballot this Nov. 4.
Top: Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine signs the Term Limit Preservation Act of 2025. (Credit: Ben Fiebert/GLI)
