The Jefferson County Commission is mulling its first round of cutbacks since filing the nation’s largest governmental bankruptcy last week. In committee on Tuesday, commissioners discussed cutting up to $880,000 from its budget for the March 2012 primary election and the potential April runoff election.
To achieve the cuts, the council will consider next week eliminating proposed contracts with Election Systems & Software that would provide about 20 experts to manage and troubleshoot the upcoming election.
Historically, the county has done that job with in-house workers from its general services department, but record cutbacks within the cash-strapped government have left that department with too few workers to provide the 40 to 60 people normally required.
“As of right now … we don’t have enough people in place to be able to handle the elections in Jefferson County like we have always done,” Place 1 Probate Judge Alan King said after Tuesday’s committee meeting.
Full Article: JeffCo talks cutting funds from election budget – Birmingham Business Journal.