By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

This week, it was reported that the City of Amarillo had tendered its final bill to former mayoral candidate Claudette Smith for her ill-fated recount of the May 1 mayoral election’s results. The recount changed very little about the results, netting seven new votes for Michael Hunt, two new votes each for Smith and incumbent Ginger Nelson, and one fewer vote for Carl Karas.

After the recount, Nelson remained Mayor with over a majority of the vote, Smith remained in second place, and Hunt and Karas rounded out the pack. Just like the election results on May 1 showed, Nelson remained Mayor. While the re-election of Nelson was not good in any shape, form, or fashion for our city, at least our city was able to move on from a bitter and divisive election — albeit with a bitter and divisive leader still at the helm.

However, while the election is over for the candidates, it’s not over for the taxpayers. According to media reports, Amarillo taxpayers are going to be on the hook for at least another $5,900 in expenses related to the recount, while Smith still owes an additional $1,478. It is worth noting, however, that Smith’s statements to KAMR-TV about her bill makes it sound like she could dispute her own remaining costs, saying:

“If my attorney says I’m supposed to pay the the additional $1,400 then that’s what I’ll be paying. I mean, it is what it is. If that’s the law, but I’d be willing to bet that a lot of these charges are not even assessable to me. And if you read the Texas election code, it basically says the cause the actual cost to print the ballots, and then you have to pay for the hourly rate for the for the recount committee, and that’s it. All this other stuff that’s on here is irrelevant.”

I’m sure the City and Ms. Smith will figure out a conclusion to her part of the bill, but I am concerned about the remaining $5,900 in expenses that taxpayers will have to foot for this recount. For an election that was not especially close in the first place, a $5,900 bill handed to taxpayers seems rather steep and, frankly, not a significantly good use of tax dollars.

I have concerns about excessive and unnecessary spending of any kind and this spending, brought on by Smith’s recount request, seems to have stuck our taxpayers with bad spending. It is a shame that for an election like the one that played out in May, voters can’t get away from its costs.

Unfortunately, taxpayers are going to have to pony up and pay the $5,900 bill to satisfy the costs remaining on what was, quite frankly, a frivolous recount of our city’s election. It’s disappointing, but it’s the way things go in Amarillo.

All I can say is that Amarillo taxpayers should buckle up. This spending, while ridiculous, isn’t the first (or worst) instance of unnecessary spending of tax dollars our community has seen during this City Council’s current term and it won’t be the last.