Roswell City Council has approved Fulton County managing its municipal election in November. The vote last week approved an intergovernmental agreement for Fulton County elections to conduct the election at a minimum cost of $814,420.
The amount includes a minimum of $554,028 for the general election and an additional charge of $260,392 if a runoff takes place, according to the city.
City Council approved the cost of opening a second early voting location at East Roswell Library, which Fulton had not planned as it had in previous elections. Fulton has traditionally opened early voting locations at that library as well as Roswell Library on the westside of the city.
Roswell will be charged an additional $72,000 for the early voting location in East Roswell, City Council members said.
Councilwoman Sarah Beeson said Fulton plans to close an early voting location in other local cities. On her suggestion, City Council agreed to offer Alpharetta and Johns Creek a cost sharing agreement in which East Roswell Library would also be a voting location for those municipalities’ elections in November.
Roswell has previously stated that it paid Fulton $373,000 to administer its local election in 2021.
Councilwoman Lee Hills said the city intends to manage its own election in 2025.
“I continue to be disappointed that we are not holding municipal elections this year,” Hills said, adding that the city does not have the infrastructure in place to do so.
Milton is the only north Fulton city that plans to manage its November election.
Earlier this year, Milton, Roswell, Johns Creek, Alpharetta and Mountain Park officials discussed pooling resources for the hiring of a superintendent to set up and manage the process. Those conversations stalled and the cities, other than Milton, have voted in favor of Fulton County overseeing their elections, this year.
While, Alpharetta’s City Council approved a resolution in March authorizing Fulton County to conduct the city’s election this fall, a final on the ordinance is scheduled to take place during its April 17 meeting.
