Luzerne County’s 2027 budget proposes two new election positions, according to information presented at this week’s budget work session.
The election bureau currently has eight positions: a director, deputy director, deputy chief clerk, voting specialist, and four administrative assistants.
County Administrative Services Division Head Jim Rose told County Council Tuesday the approximately $48,000 annual compensation for each requested additional position — elections office administrator and voting systems technician — would be covered by annual state Election Integrity Grant funding and not the general fund operating budget.
Rose said the elections office administrator’s duties would include overseeing frontline customer service, which he described as “extremely important.”
Based on his observations, Rose said a point person is needed to coordinate assistance to voters with demeanors ranging from very polite to hostile. Employees are assigned to help those at the counter, but they often have questions that would be answered by the administrator so the election director can focus on other essential duties, he said.
The administrator would also coordinate the recruitment and training of temporary election staff and ensure paperwork submitted by citizens, such as voter registration applications, is accurately processed, he said.
Programming election ballots would be a primary responsibility of the voting systems technician, Rose said.
The county switched to a new voting system from Hart InterCivic this year, with plans to design and program ballots in-house starting in 2027 — a move intended to save money and reduce reliance on outside vendors.
In addition, the technician would provide technical support for “all phases of election administration,” Rose said.
Rose said he believes the additions are needed because the bureau’s responsibilities and elections in general are “complicated.”
County Councilwoman Denise Williams, a prior county election board chairwoman, said she sees “merit” in adding an administrator, but she was unsure about the technician position.
Williams requested copies of the job descriptions for both proposed new positions along with those for the existing election deputy chief clerk and an elections technician in the information technology department.
Rose said the IT elections technician helps with elections but is primarily assigned to provide technology support for all county offices in the county’s Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre, where the bureau is housed.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo said she will supply the job descriptions. Regarding the request for a voting systems technician position, she said the workload to design and program ballots would be too much for the IT staffer, citing the quantity of ballots that must be generated in municipal election years with 186 voting precincts.
The election bureau’s total proposed 2027 budget is $1.69 million, or an increase of $80,836 compared with this year. Revenue is estimated at $346,357, or $93,378 more.
Rose told council members the proposed budget cuts the bureau’s overtime expenses in half — from $22,000 to $11,000 — because of the two new positions.
Under a proposed restructuring, the election bureau would report directly to the county manager in 2027. Rose is retiring at the end of this year, and the administration said it would move remaining departments under his supervision to other divisions so it could eliminate his position.
The county administration is proposing a 1.99% real estate tax increase in 2027, largely due to negotiated wage commitments, court needs, and infrastructure, it said. The council is free to make adjustments before the final budget adoption scheduled for Dec. 8.
Councilman Harry Haas said Tuesday he wants to avoid a tax increase and questioned if there are other options, including the use of revenue from the pending sale of the county rail line.
County Budget/Finance Division Head Mary Roselle said the county should not use one-time revenue to balance the budget because it leaves a hole the following year. She reiterated the financial adviser’s recommendation for incremental increases to maintain a structurally balanced budget and build the fund balance to preserve and possibly improve the county’s A rating with a stable outlook from S&P Global Ratings.
The increase would add $12.80 annually to a property assessed at $100,000.
Roselle said 61% of properties in the county are assessed below $100,000.
Crocamo said the county must “get serious” about addressing inherited infrastructure problems. While a new prison has been cited as a need, she said there are many other pressing projects involving roads, bridges, and county buildings, including deteriorated courthouse sewer pipes.