April 4, 2010 - Statehouse Insider: Special election to cost less than predicted

Paper: The Desert Sun, (Palm Springs, CA)  
Title: Statehouse Insider: Special election to cost less than predicted
Date: April 4, 2010
Author: Erica Felci

Some good news for cash-strapped coffers of Riverside County: The price tag for the 37th Senate special election won't be as high as expected.

Registrar Barbara Dunmore told The Desert Sun that her office implemented several cost-saving measures and now expects the April 13 special election to cost $900,000.

That's significantly less than the original estimates, which indicated the election to fill Supervisor John Benoit's old seat could cost taxpayers as much as $1.3 million.

Of course, it is still possible that the county may not have to foot the bill at all.

County supervisors, in shaping their legislative priorities of 2010, said they would seek reimbursement from the state.

Historically, the state has picked up the tab of such special elections, either through legislation or by including it in the annual budget, according to Paul Hegyi, chief of staff for Assemblyman Van Tran.

The Orange County Republican assemblyman authored AB 1769, a bill to have the state reimburse the $1.6 million Orange County spent for the November special primary and the January special general election to fill the 72nd Assembly seat.

The bill will be heard Tuesday by the Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting.

Hegyi told The Desert Sun that they're “certainly open to expanding it” in order to include the special election costs of the 37th Senate seat.

However, as of Wednesday, no one had requested it.

Copyright ©2010 The Desert Sun.