JUDGE SUES STATE FOR PAY.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: ALAN WECHSLER Staff writer

Is Rensselaer County a more expensive place to live than Albany County? A state Supreme Court justice will soon hear testimony to determine just that.

The judge is attempting to determine whether Rensselaer County Judge Patrick J. McGrath deserves to get paid as much as his colleagues in Albany County. Right now, he makes $99,000, or 9.7 percent less then the $108,600 received by county judges across the Hudson River.

Two years ago, McGrath sued the state to raise his pay. On Friday, state Supreme Court Justice Bernard J. Malone Jr. ruled in a 10-page decision that McGrath had a point, since McGrath was handling as …