Board of Elections Budget Reviewed
Comptroller’s Office questions mid-year layoffs that resulted in unnecessary unemployment payments
(Buffalo) – The Office of Erie County Comptroller completed a review of the Erie County Board of Elections budget for the first six months of 2013, and found fiscal irregularities, including fluctuations in personnel spending that resulted in nine workers being laid off toward the beginning of the year.
These layoffs resulted in taxpayers footing the bill for almost $9,000 in unemployment payments. Most of the workers who were laid off were put back on the public payroll.
Under the Constitution of the State of New York, Article II, Section 8, the Erie County Board of Elections requires equal representation of the two major political parties, Republican and Democrat.
There is a Republican Commissioner (Budget Line #1500030) and Democratic Commissioner (Budget Line #1500040). Both receive equal funding in the budget, and have the discretion to spend how they see fit. One Commissioner already outspent his counterpart by $69,271 for the first six months of the year:
|
Budget Line #1500030 |
Budget Line #1500040 |
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|
Compensation |
$670,776 |
$712,753 |
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|
Fringes |
$440,917 |
$468,211 |
|||
|
Total |
$1,111,693 |
$1,180,964 |
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The report also found a Commissioner put more workers on the payroll to do the same amount of work:
|
Budget Line #1500030 |
Budget Line #1500040 |
||||
|
Full Time |
29 |
33-35 |
|||
|
RPT and PT |
7 |
15-19 |
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|
Total |
36 |
48-54 |
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Additional findings include:
- Overspending resulted in nine workers being laid off at the beginning of 2013
- Of those nine who were laid off, seven were put back on the public payroll
- Layoffs resulted in taxpayers footing the bill for almost $9,000 in unemployment costs
- Additional workers on the public payroll results in higher fringe benefits costs and higher pension costs down the road
- One Commissioner outspent the other by $280,089 in 2012
“Laying people off and putting extra workers on the public payroll cost taxpayers in the long run. More is spent on unemployment, fringe benefits and retirement payments. I encourage Commissioners to reign in spending and closely monitor their respective budgets. Their workloads will only increase with the upcoming September Primary and General Election,” said Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw.