'We're dying here': Florida paper pleads for mask ruleAt least 150 hospitalized due to salmonella outbreak in 48 statesSec.
of State addresses pending budget cuts due to COVID-19. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Friday that he and his office are working to find where to cut that money from their budget.According to Raffensperger, the Secretary of State office could cut 10 percent of its elections budget with a simple solution.However, they are not allowed to, because the issue is tied up in court.Raffensperger explained that his office spends $36,000 a month (which adds up to $432,000 a year) to store the state's old voting machines in a warehouse.Last year, after a lawsuit from election activists, a federal judge ruled that Georgia had to move away from the direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines.The state has since shifted to a verifiable paper ballot system.Raffensperger said the federal judge also ruled that the state had to keep the old DRE machines.“I don’t know why we have to spend this money,” Raffensperger said. FY09 authority includes $10,000 Supplemental and does NOT include $17,000 reprogrammingD. According to Raffensperger, the Secretary of State office could cut 10 percent of its elections budget with a simple solution.
... Sec. FY13 authority does not include $66,050 sequestration reduction
May 12, 2017
"They should be up in arms."Gov. A. of State addresses pending Georgia budget cuts due to COVID-19Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. The second is a recent announcement of athletic department budget cuts at Ole Miss and Auburn, whose spending had ballooned over the last half-decade as SEC … Includes $20,705 for Disaster Recovery, $24,820 carryover for Pay Parity, $30,900 for 2nd Supplemental, & $336 rescission. Governor Brian Kemp wants to cut Georgia's 2021 fiscal year budget by 14 percent across the board, because of COVID-19 expenses.
“It’s like having to hold on to a Model T that you’re never going to drive again, waiting for some kind of inspection. According to White House Office of Management and Budget estimates, the SEC’s $1.32 billion annual budget could face a $108 million cut if sequestration happens. The budget sets a funding level of $1.895 billion for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is entirely funded through fees on securities transactions, for a four percent increase from the agency's FY 2020 level of $1.815 billion. It doesn’t matter.”When it comes to other cuts, Raffensperger said his office is already pretty efficient.He said in the last 15 to 20 years, the Secretary of State's office has gone from having 750 employees to now less than 275.For right now, among other possible cuts, when a position becomes empty, they are trying not to fill it for the time being.But, he said freeing up that $36,000 a month that is spent to house the old voting machines would be the perfect solution. Kemp and the state House and Senate appropriations committees have asked state agencies to have their revised budgets ready by May 20. Enacted at $913,000, but SEC was required to leave $25,000 unobligated to apply towards FY 2006.C. Budget Authority figures above do not include carryover or recoveries. It’s almost a half a million dollars a year, and we want to get relief on that.”He said the matter is still tied up in federal court.“They’re never going to be used again,” he explained. Enacted at $913,000, but SEC was required to leave $25,000 unobligated to … “In this time of 14 percent budget cut, that’s a huge number for us to have to pay because it’s really the taxpayers that are paying that.