Term Limits for Local Government Offices

Confronted with repeated abuses of trust by our elected officials, we, the undersigned residents of Putnam County and its various Towns and Villages, do hereby petition our County Legislature and each of our Town and Village Boards to take the necessary action to adopt term limits for all elected positions in the various governments of Putnam County.

Specifically, we petition for term limits that allow for no more than three consecutive terms in office or eight consecutive years in office, whichever is less. We request that these term limits go into effect with the next election for each office. This would mean offices with two-year terms would be limited to three consecutive terms. Offices with with three- or four-year terms would be limited to two consecutive terms.

While term limits have the unfortunate side effect of limiting the time honest and diligent elected officials may serve, they also keep elected officials from accumulating personal privileges and power. As we have seen time and again, accumulating such power leads to the opportunity and temptation for personal gain and abuse of power at public expense.