Since 1999, salaries for state judges, legislators, the governor and other statewide elected officials have remain unchanged.

A measure now under consideration in the state Senate would end that pay stagnation, and create regular cost of living increases going forward.

While no one in these positions should be claiming financial hardship over the size of their paychecks, eight years without any increase is long enough.

The more time passes by without addressing salaries, the harder it will be to find qualified candidates to run for office.

Such a long time lag between pay increases also leads to dramatic salary leaps once they do take place, rather than smaller jumps spread out over time.

So we support a modest pay increase for these officials - legislators now make $79,500, state Supreme Court judges get $136,700 and the governor earns $179,500 annually.

We also like the idea of a cost-of-living increase for these positions. Such adjustments, once put in place, remove politics from the equation when considering appropriate pay levels.

That does mean an ineffective lawmaker or judge would still get a raise during non-election years, but ultimately it's up to the voters to make sure people deserving of the pay get elected.

We offer this support, however, with a major caveat for the Legislature. Base pay should be higher, but the proliferation of extra stipends needs to end. Some lawmakers are getting tens of thousands of dollars extra each year for holding leadership posts or committee assignments.

And given the nature of how things work in Albany, where the top leader in the Senate and Assembly still call all the shots, you have to question how much extra work many of those assignments create.

The stipend practice needs serious reform, and that reform needs to be part of any package dealing with legislative pay.