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Hernando Today

Stabins finds $50K in cuts for elections boss

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By MICHAEL D. BATES

Hernando Today

Published: October 30, 2009

Updated: 10/30/2009 10:46 pm

BROOKSVILLE - County Commissioner Jeff Stabins on Friday e-mailed Elections Supervisor Annie Williams with suggestions on how to cut more than $43,000 from her $1 million budget.

Stabins said Williams asked commissioners for assistance and he is complying.

With help from the county budget office staffers and their counterparts in Williams' department, Stabins is recommending she no longer fill vacant positions.

"Reducing by attrition is far less painful than furloughs or layoffs," he said.

If she removes the allocation for overtime for her department, she could save $18,345, he said.

"None of your employees should be asked to work more than 40 hours in any given week," he said.

Stabins also recommends Williams reduce her professional fees for legal, technical and mailing by $2,500 and reduce her office supplies-stationery budget by $3,650.

Stabins recommends Williams either renegotiate or rebid her contract for hardware and software maintenance. Right now, she is paying a company more than $100,000 annually for that service, he said.

He applauded Williams for cutting 2 percent from her $101,718 salary. But he believes she should cut another 3 percent to match what her 12 staffers are losing due to 12 unpaid furlough days.

Those furlough days amount to a 5 percent loss of income to employees and the estimated savings to the general fund from those unpaid days is about $27,180.

And even though Williams is opposed to using volunteers at the polls, Stabins still urges her to get as many as possible. For each volunteer, she saves $100, he said.

If Williams follows his suggestions, Stabins said she can cut $51,675 from her budget, which is more than the $43,000 commissioners directed her to trim.

Williams could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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