September 26, 2005

"November election's costs weigh on counties' officials"

"County election officials say they are struggling to front the extra cost of staging the Nov. 8 statewide special election and worry they'll never get reimbursed by the state.

Many counties were planning on paying for some local elections on Nov. 8 anyway. But having to absorb the $44 million extra cost to count ballots countywide and perform other tasks to deal with eight state ballot initiatives has forced many to borrow against their budgets for next year, with the assumption that the money will be repaid.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proclamation calling the special election says counties should be repaid by the state in the next fiscal year.

But county officials fear the reimbursement could turn into a political tug-of-war between the Republican governor and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which must approve the reimbursement and is at odds with Schwarzenegger over the election and the governor's initiatives.

"All 58 counties are going to be in a world of hurt if we have to go without anything reimbursing us," said Conny McCormack, Los Angeles County registrar and president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials. "County budgets were not built for this. Deficit spending is not an option for county budgets."

You can read the entire article here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at September 26, 2005 08:29 AM