Less than three months before the District’s planned special election planned for former Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.’s seat, the Board of Elections and Ethics says it still doesn’t know where it’ll get the $319,000 to pay for it.
The board’s executive director Clifford Tatum told a D.C. council committee on Wednesday the election planned for May 15 is still unfunded.
“We’re prepared to shift costs around but at some point we’ll have to cover the funds,” Tatum told Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, who chairs the government operations committee. “We’ll borrow from Peter to pay Paul but at some point we’ll have to pay it back.”
Mayor Vincent Gray has included the costs of the election in a supplemental budget request he sent to council that asks to spend an additional $44 million. The request is based on a projected $42.4 million in excess revenue at the end of the 2012 fiscal year. But the council has so far balked at Gray’s move to spend all of the extra money, especially after being asked by the administration to raise income taxes last year on the city’s highest earners.
Bowser said on Wednesday she would ask the mayor to “look at reprogramming” some of the city’s funds.
