TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Elections Boss Says Budget No Secret, Request Valid

ADVERTISEMENT

By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2008

  Buddy Johnson

TAMPA - Reacting to criticism of his postelection, $2.3 million budget request, Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson rejected claims that his office kept county officials in the dark about his budget.

Johnson was reacting to statements made by County Administrator Pat Bean last week after the Hillsborough County Commission denied Johnson's request to increase his budget by more than one-third. Bean said the request was unreasonable after Johnson's office refused requests for detailed budget information this year.

In an e-mail Friday, Johnson's deputy, Kathy Harris, told Bean that county officials always knew Johnson's adopted budget was a "best estimate." Harris said the elections office had given Bean's staff "line item detail" of the budget.

Johnson reiterated those points in two phone calls to The Tampa Tribune this week.

"We've been working so closely with those guys for so long," Johnson said today.

But the line-item detail referenced in Harris' e-mail was given to the county budget office in 2007. The county budgets for two fiscal years at a time, so the information submitted by Johnson's office was for 2008 and 2009.

By the time Bean and county commissioners started building the 2009 budget in June, economic conditions had changed drastically and another wave of tax reductions had been approved by voters. So Bean asked all county departments and constitutional officers such as Johnson to submit updated information that identified possible cuts.

Johnson's office responded with dollar amounts for three departments, without the underlying detail county financial officers had sought, Bean said. The elections office did not suggest further cuts.

"All we did is ask him for something we asked everybody else for," Bean said. "You would think a year later they would have had additional information to help us."

Johnson also continued to defend his late request for the additional $2.3 million, saying he and other elections officials could not have predicted the record turnout for early voting and the election Nov. 4.

Bean disagreed, noting the high turnout for the primary Aug. 26 and the ongoing publicity generated by the presidential contest. Bean said Johnson never suggested to the county budget office between the primary and the general election that he needed more money.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT