1. (a) "Administrative Personnel" means a non-election-day worker.
2. (b) The employment of administrative personnel is not required for the conduct of the primary elections. (Please note that for the 2000 Primary and Runoff Elections, 385 of the 508 county chairs reported $0 in administrative personnel costs.)
3. (c) Pursuant to §81.114 of this title (relating to Conflicts of Interest), no member of the county chair's family may be paid an administrative salary from primary funds.
4. (d) The county chair shall obtain prior written approval from the Secretary of State before administrative personnel are hired under this section. (The Secretary of State encourages the use of part-time administrative personnel.)
5. (e) If administrative personnel are required for the conduct of the primary election, salaries or wages for such personnel are payable from the primary fund for a period beginning no earlier than December 1, 2001, and ending no later than the last day of the month in which the last primary election is held.
6. (f) The county chair shall submit to the Secretary of State a list of all necessary personnel to be paid from the primary fund. This list must indicate the name and title of the employee, job duties, hours to be worked, period of employment, monthly or hourly rate of pay, and the estimated or actual gross pay for the period. (The county chair must also attach this information to each primary cost estimate and to the 2002 Final Primary Election Cost Report.)
7. (g) The county chair shall use the formula set out in this subsection to calculate the maximum total gross salaries that may be paid to administrative personnel. Salaries must be reasonable for the hours worked and services rendered and must reflect the salaries paid for similar work or services in the same area. In no circumstance may an employee who is paid from the primary fund be compensated more than $2,500 for any one-month's work. If an individual is paid from the primary fund and that individual is also leasing space, furniture, or equipment to the party for the primary-election, then the lease amounts must be added to that person's salary to determine whether the allowable administrative-salary limit has been reached.
   Attached Graphic
   
8. (h) If the county chair contracts with third parties or the county-elections officer for election services, the overall administrative personnel costs must be reduced to reflect the actual amount of work performed by the primary fund staff. (Administrative personnel costs include, but are not limited to, polling location services, ballot ordering, and secretarial services.)
9. (i) The Secretary of State may disallow full payment for administrative personnel if it is determined that the contracting county-elections officer substantially performed the conduct of the election.

Source Note:The provisions of this §81.124 adopted to be effective November 19, 2001, 26 TexReg 9083.