SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A judge today allowed a lawsuit over pay raises for county officials to move forward, despite efforts by attorneys to quash it.

At a preliminary hearing, Judge Spencer Ludington denied motions by defense attorneys to dismiss the lawsuit as “non-justiciable.”

The hearing was the first in a six-month-old lawsuit from County Comptroller Bob Antonacci. Antonacci sued 19 county officials — including the county executive and 17 legislators — over raises approved in a 2015 resolution.

In the courtroom Thursday morning, more than half a dozen lawyers gathered before Ludington to argue whether the case should be allowed to go forward. The county has hired five separate law firms to defend against Antonacci’s lawsuit.

“Do we have enough chairs?” Ludington said in jest as the hearing began.

Attorneys for County Executive Joanie Mahoney and Personnel Director Peter Troiano argued that their defendants should be dropped from the case. Others argued the case was not eligible for a judge’s ruling because that would amount to the government’s judicial branch interfering with the legislative branch.

Ludington — an acting Supreme Court judge — denied all those motions and allowed the suit to continue.

“It’s clear from the complaint that the plaintiff is not seeking review of the legislative decision to increase salaries,” Ludington said in his ruling. “The complaint asserts that the manner in which the salaries were increased was improper and illegal.”

Ludington also dismissed a second, nearly identical lawsuit filed shortly after the first.

“It was a redundant lawsuit that was costing a lot to litigate that really was the exact same action,” said Robert Smith, one of the defense attorneys.

Some lawyers said that Antonacci’s motives for the lawsuit were purely political. Smith suggested the comptroller sued only after his own raise was nixed by the legislature.

Ludington agreed that there were political overtones to the case. Antonacci said afterward that his motives were ethical ones.

“This is about the direction of Onondaga County and whether or not we’re doing the right thing here,” Antonacci said.

Smith, who is representing the county legislature, said he is confident that he can prove the raises were lawfully passed.

A handful of representatives from the county executive’s office attended the hearing, as did a pair of legislators: Kevin Holmquist and Casey Jordan.

So far, the case has cost the county more than $154,000.

Lawyers will meet with Ludington again on Aug. 11.