The City of Milton in Georgia voted to take the responsibility for their municipal elections away from Fulton County.
The projected cost to renew the agreement with Fulton County was between $186,000 to $190,000.
The first-time cost for Milton to run its own elections would be $72,254 – that number is estimated to drop to $56,589 after first-time costs are taken care of.
Georgia Record reported:
On Monday evening the City of Milton, Georgia, voted unanimously to take responsibility for all municipal elections, away from Fulton County, Georgia, control.
“Estimated savings for just a general election in Milton in 2023, three council members, we’ll save over a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money if we do this ourselves.”, according to Milton City Council member, Rick Mohrig, speaking to a City Hall packed with citizens from Milton and neighboring jurisdictions.
After more than seventeen months of examination and due diligence aided by a grassroots group of local citizens, the Milton City Council discovered they could save significant costs while also complying with all Georgia state election laws. More importantly, they could take proactive measures to ensure far greater accuracy of its voter rolls and implement paper balloting.
The vote was to approve the detailed plan as constructed, which 100% excludes machines, scanners, devices, etc. This vote was to approve the detailed plan as submitted (paper ballots) and authorized the position of a Municipal Elections Supervisor (paid or volunteer position.)
In front of the city council, several residents from Milton and Roswell discussed Fulton County’s election mismanagement.
They urged the council to dump Fulton County and move forward with running elections on their own.
Appenmedia reported:
While the City Council rarely allows public comment during presentations, Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison made an exception for seven comments on the election presentation, most from Milton residents but two from Roswell residents. All comments cited Fulton County mismanagement and urged the City Council to move forward with self-run municipal elections.
The committee’s assumption at its last meeting — that the City Council would vote in favor of in-house elections — may prove true on Dec. 19. Following the presentation, City Councilwoman Carol Cookerly said she has supported the prospect from the beginning.
“Things are never as inexpensive as we hope,” Cookerly said. “I certainly have the latitude and would expect that if we need more money, we’ll make it available.”
Election issues have come back to hurt Fulton County.
via madpatriotnews
