ST. CHARLES COUNTY — The months-long feud between members of the County Council and County Election Authority spilled over into the county’s budget debate this week.
The County Council was set to vote on its multimillion-dollar budget on Monday night. But before it could, two council members took what County Executive Steve Ehlmann called “unprecedented†action by trying to strip funding from the county’s top election official.
Councilman Joe Brazil has been critical for months of the office’s use of electronic ballot counting. On Monday, Brazil and Councilman Tim Baker aimed to block election funding.
“I cannot in good conscience give any funding to the election at this time,†Brazil said.
The rift between members of the council and the election authority began when Brazil sent what he described as an open records request via email to election authority Director Kurt Bahr regarding the costs of buying, using and storing electronic ballot-tabulating machines.
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Brazil, and some residents, have argued that the machines are inaccurate and that the county should resume counting ballots by hand on Election Day.
The county began using electronic tabulators in the 1990s. It has received court orders to hand-count ballots for some contested congressional races more recently, but the hand-counts confirmed the machines’ tabulations.
After the meeting, Ehlmann said talks of hand-counting had overshadowed what he described as a “good budget.â€
The roughly $600 million budget includes 3% merit-based and 2% cost-of-living raises for county employees and $18 million for energy-saving improvements at the county’s administration building, courthouse, police department and the St. Charles County Family Arena.
The budget also includes funding for a newly created fiscal manager position within the county collector’s office that will be tasked with overseeing the implementation of the county’s property tax freeze for seniors.
The program, which the St. Charles County Council approved in September, applies to all residents 62 and older if they complete an annual application. Applications — which will be available both in paper form and online — for the tax freeze can be filed beginning in March.
St. Charles County Collector Michelle McBride said the deadline to apply for the property tax freeze will be June 30. She expects that some 36,000 households could apply during the first year of the program, which became possible after Gov. Mike Parson signed a law allowing such exemptions earlier this year.
McBride said whoever is hired for this position will oversee the program, administer the applications, compile and report statistics about home values and participating residents, and more.