The chief of the state Office of Elections yesterday said his agency's budget woes are so dire that it may be unable to pay routine utility bills after August.

Chief Elections Officer Kevin Cronin said his agency's budget contains only $14,000 to pay utilities and other overhead expenses at its leased Pearl City headquarters during the current fiscal year. He says that money will run out by September.

"The situation I'm in is beyond my control," Cronin said. "I've been sharing this message with the administration for more than a reasonable period of time. I'm not sure what more I can do."

Asked about the concerns Cronin has expressed in previous letters, Gov. Linda Lingle said smooth elections are important but that the elections office's budget problems may stem from the fact that the state allots money to agencies each quarter.

"This could be a function of the allotment process as opposed to not having enough money to run an election," she said.

She referred reporters to state budget officials, who did not respond to a request for comment.

But Cronin said the problem is not related to how the state distributes money to government agencies.

The Legislature appropriated almost $3.9 million to the elections office. About $2.8 million of that is dedicated to the purchase of voting machines and another $929,000 for salaries, leaving about $166,000 for operations over the current fiscal year.

But budget maneuvers by the Lingle administration further cut that figure to about $14,000, Cronin said.

"The $14,000 that we have is the only money that is available for obtaining the supplies and arranging for the services that need to be performed in the year before the election," Cronin said.

Two years ago, the agency had more than $500,000 to spend on operations and election preparations, he added.

He also cautioned that the agency cannot prepare for next year's elections like it should during non-election years, including purchasing supplies.

"We won't have the materials we need and the people in place to reasonably conduct the elections and it will be very disorganized, at best," Cronin said.

The Legislature could appropriate more money early next year, but the agency will have lost several months of preparation time, he said.

Further, there may be insufficient money in the agency's budget for the fiscal year that begins in July 2010 to transport ballots to and from the Neighbor Islands during next year's elections.

"That cost alone is close to $110,000. We don't have the money to do that," he said.

The statewide primary election is scheduled for Sept. 18, 2010, and the general election is Nov. 2.