KINGSTON – Ulster County Legislature Chairwoman Terry Bernardo supports County Executive Michael Hein’s proposal to limit the payout for unused sick and vacation time for management employees who are leaving county employment.

Bernardo would like to take personnel-related cost cutting one step further with a hiring freeze.

“A hiring freeze would be in all positions unless we had essential positions such as police officers that need to be filled,” she said, noting she is looking forward to working with Hein “to insure that the recent proposal he made to consolidate tourism services works and that it reduces expenses for both the City of Kingston and the county; however, I hope that it does not actually amount to hiring a new county employee.”

Hein wants to reduce the payouts to managers who leave the county since the higher payouts were originally designed to compensate for lower salaries than counterparts in the private sector. If approved by the county legislature, the new provisions would take effect on April 1.