News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The upcoming budget for the Putnam County Election Commission will be $17,000 less than the current fiscal year.
Election Commission Chairman Phil Adams said that’s because only one election will occur in 2020.
“That’s why our election worker cost has gone way down and our budget has gone back down,” Adams said. “We’ve gone up a little bit on some salaries, but we’ve also got other contracted services, which is where we now have the poll pads.”
Fiscal year 2019-2020 budget requests total $470,361. The election worker budget line decreased from $124,330 to approximately $70,000.
“This time there’s only one election and then the next year’s budget will have two elections in it,” Elections Administrator Debbie Steidl said.
The proposed budget includes a $36,000 increase for salary and wages and an additional $6,000 for contracted services.
Election commissioners approved the proposed budget during last month’s meeting. The county commission will consider approving the budget later this year.
Adams said funding for the voter verified paper audit trail (VPAT) system will not be included in the budget.
“We don’t have a cost on them yet,” Adams said. “according to our last meeting, it’s looking more and more realistic the state of Tennessee is leaning toward a paper trail. We just want to be ready which ever way they go.”
VPAT basically allows voters to know if their vote was cast correctly. A company will give the election commission a presentation on the machines later this year.
