Special election to cost city about $188,000.

STAMFORD — This week’s special election for the state Senate is expected to cost the city about $188,000, according to estimates from the Registrar of Voters’ and Town Clerk’s offices.

If state Rep. Patricia Billie Miller emerges as the winner and another, smaller special election takes place in about two months to fill her House seat, it’s expected to cost an additional $38,000 or so.

Mayor David Martin sent a letter to Connecticut’s secretary of state on Feb. 15 seeking financial assistance for the elections, citing “increased costs that are driven by the pandemic.” Last year, Martin complained about the formula that the state used to distribute federal money for conducting the November general election amid COVID-19.

“It is even more crucial (compared to the November election) to employ COVID-19 precautions as the case incidence is considerably more dire today,” Martin wrote in his February letter to Denise Merrill.

Deputy Secretary Scott Bates responded to Martin in a letter on Monday, saying the state received federal money only for the 2020 elections and that it no longer has “resources with which to aid municipalities with costs related to special elections.”

Martin wrote back, saying: “While I am disappointed, the logic behind your explanation is understandable.”

The Registrar of Voters’ and Town Clerk’s offices requested money from Stamford’s reserve for contingencies to cover the anticipated costs of both the state Senate District 27 election and a potential House District 145 election. On Feb. 11, the Board of Finance approved the registrar’s request for $200,000 and the clerk’s request for about $25,000.

But when the requests went to the Board of Representatives for approval, members of the Fiscal Committee took issue with appropriating money for an election that might not occur.

Jay Fountain, the director of Stamford’s Office of Policy and Management, told the committee that the registrar and clerk asked for the money for both elections because there won’t be much time in between them.

“If they don’t use the money, the money will come back to the general fund at the end of the year anyway, so it’s not going to be spent on anything else,” Fountain said during a virtual meeting on Feb. 22.

Still, the committee moved to lower the amount for the registrar to $170,000 and lower the amount for the clerk to about $18,000 — to cover only the costs of the state Senate election. The numbers were based on estimates by both departments, which need to pay for ballots, postage, poll staff, sanitization and absentee ballot counters, among other things.

“I can appreciate the fact that it’s a tight schedule, but I don’t think we write the check to pay the bill on Election Day,” said Rep. Mary Lisa Fedeli, R-17. “It’s nothing about the numbers or the dollar amount. I would just like to appropriate the money when the election actually happens or when we know it’s actually going to happen.”

And Rep. Nina Sherwood, D-8, who isn’t a member of the Fiscal Committee but was present at the meeting, said that the city government “should move one step at a time.”

“I know that appropriating money for a secondary election doesn’t mean that someone’s hoping one way or another,” Sherwood said. “But I do think that we shouldn’t just assume.”

She added that if there actually is a second special election, she is confident the board will sign off on the money needed for it.

City and Town Clerk Lyda Ruijter noted that her office was issuing more absentee ballots for the state Senate election than normal for a special election — largely because voters could use COVID-19 as a reason for requesting one.

On Monday, the Board of Representatives approved the amounts set by the Fiscal Committee.