TAMPA -- County auditors say they can't justify giving departing Hillsborough elections supervisor Buddy Johnson a $2.3-million bailout after analyzing his accounting records.

They are recommending that county commissioners give him only a fraction of the amount, or $336,000, to cover his drastically blown overtime budget for holding the November election. Johnson had estimated that he would need $32,120 to cover overtime expenses, but he spent 10 times that amount.

A central part of the two-page report focuses on the state-mandated acquisition of new voting machines. In February, county commissioners approved giving Johnson's office $5.8-million to buy new optical scan voting system last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

The contract with Premier Election Solutions says that Johnson's office would pay the company the final 30 percent of the cost, or about $1.7-million, during this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. But the report indicates that some portion of that balance was spent last year on other, undetermined office expenses.

The report speculates that part of the money Johnson recently requested may be to cover some part of the $1.7-million due to Premier that commissioners already gave him.

Johnson has since withdrawn his request, leaving the dispute to successor Phyllis Busansky to settle. Busansky, a former commissioner, defeated Johnson in the November election. Johnson left office today.

Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer

Download a PDF of the audit.

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