Amended County Budget Covers Algood Election Fees

An amendment to the Putnam County Commission’s general fund will cover legal fees and court costs from the Algood election hearings.

Commission Chairman Ben Rodgers says the fees were charged to the county election office once the case was dismissed.

“We had to amend that, so we increased that line item for legal services in…the county attorney’s budget,” Rodgers says. “He  (Jeffery Jones) represents our county commission, and that would come out of our fund balance to pay for that.”

The amendment does not cover court expenses for either Algood Councilwoman Ruby Hawkins or former councilman Justin Grant.

The case was brought up after invalid votes were cast and others were given the wrong ballot during the Algood City Council election in August. Hawkins was originally declared the winner by a single vote before the issues were discovered.

Chancery Court dismissed the case on Sept. 26 after Grant’s party filed an amended complaint outside of the set five-day window to do so.