Franklin County elections office finds itself short of cash - asks county commission for help

Franklin County Commissioners last week had to front a little over 27 thousand dollars to the county elections office to help it cover payroll through the end of the year.

Outgoing Elections supervisor Pinki Jackel said her office faced a cash flow problem after running the largest and most expensive election in Franklin County history.

November's election not only brought out a record number of voters but also required a lot of overtime because of early voting which was very popular this year.

She said the shortfall became obvious during the year-end bookkeeping.

She said the issue was not only the cost of the election but also because her office paid all of its bills, which in retrospect was probably a mistake.

She said some of the bills could have waited until January but she wanted to make sure that all of the bills were paid before she leaves office in January.

The 27 thousand dollars is one-third of the elections office's quarterly draw.

In January the office will receive another 54 thousand dollars which Mrs. Jackel said will cover expenses for the first quarter of the year.

She said the only elections in 2017 will be city elections and the city will reimburse the elections office for those expenses.

http://live.oysterradio.com/