Washington County Election Poll Workers Could See Raises

FAYETTEVILLE — Hundreds of Washington County poll workers who monitor and process elections could see their pay increase in 2014.

The Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee tentatively approved the Election Commission’s budget Thursday. The committee also approved budgets for services, such as local libraries, public record keeping, property assessment and tax collection.

The Quorum Court will approve final budgets later this year.

About 415 poll workers work 13- to 15-hour days during general election days and earn $7.80 per hour, said Jennifer Price, election coordinator. Supervisors earn $8.80, she said. The commission requested a $1-per-hour raise.

“We think these people work very hard for us,” said John Logan Burrow, election commissioner.

At A Glance

Spending Requests

Washington County’s Finance and Budget Committee approved spending requests Thursday night.

Department20142013

Library system$2,004,109$2,026,471

Circuit Clerk$816,515$660,331

Circuit Clerk (recorder’s cost)$1,354,924$1,742,193

County Clerk$496,594$511,591

County Clerk (automation cost)$173,500$187,510

Election Commission$522,530$222,530

Equalization Board$1,114,525$1,268,862

Assessor$1,706,287$1,799,135

Tax Collector$1,138,600$1,138,600

Tax Collector (automation cost)$110,000$110,000

Source: Washington County

“They’re very faithful. They’re there when we need them, and the job they do has gotten much more complicated since the last time we increased their compensation.”

Poll workers haven’t seen pay increases in more than 13 years, Price said after the meeting.

The commission expects increased election costs next year because of the governor’s race in November 2014, a primary election in May and a possible runoff election after the primaries.

The commission requested $522,530 for 2014. The commission spent $438,316 in 2012, the last general election year, according to budget documents.

Jeff Williams, county assessor, submitted a budget request of $1.7 million for 2014, or a 5 percent decrease from this year’s $1.8 million budget.

Williams said the budget cuts from his spending proposals come after he’s outsourced a lot of the internal operations of his office, such as the management of online services offered to the public for property assessments.

“What we’re doing is shifting cost,” Justice of the Peace Ann Harbison said. “I’d like to see in black and white, how much you’re saving from the outsourcing because most of the time you don’t save from outsourcing because it cost more than what you can do in house. So, I’d like to see that information, please.”

Williams said the county has saved about $20,000 in postage and man hours. That’s since his office started offering businesses the option to assess their personal property, such as equipment and vehicles, through a website this year, he said.

His 2014 budget shows a $51,600 spending reduction from this year’s $117,800 supply budget.

The county’s library system wants to provide a $14,256 increase to member libraries, such as those in Springdale, Elkins, Greenland and Prairie Grove that’s mostly paid with property tax revenue. The eight libraries in the system received a combined $1.6 million for operations in 2012.

Glenda Audrain, system director, said the increase comes after cuts she made including a savings from not filling vacant staff positions. Her budget also shows $18,000 budgeted for machinery and equipment that will not be spent in 2014.

Property owners in Washington County, except those living within Fayetteville, pay 1 mill in property taxes for the library system. The Fayetteville Public Library doesn’t belong to the system, and the city levies its own property tax to pay for its facility.

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