MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 2:03 pm

Candidates running for county offices have raised and spent thousands in their campaigning efforts during the pre-election period that ended July 31.

The final winners will be decided Thursday with voters going to the polls for the county general and state and federal primary election.

In the county general election, voters weigh in on who will be the next county road superintendent, property assessor, and various seats on the county road and school boards.

In the two most costly races - property assessor and road superintendent - the challengers have out spent the incumbents by 2 to 1.

In the race for Rutherford County Assessor of Property, incumbent John Barbee and challenger Bill D. Boner have spent a combined total of $18,698.87 on advertising.

Boner has raised $5,456 and gave his campaign a $6,100 loan. Barbee has raised $10,465, of which $3,000 was a loan from the candidate to the campaign.

Boner spent all but $464.53 of his $11,556.00 in contributions on advertising signs and campaign T-shirts mostly. Barbee has spent a total of $6,1056.33, most of which went to mailings.

The race for Rutherford County Road Superintendent hasn’t been as costly with incumbent Mike Williams and challenger Buddy Gambill only spending $12,800.29 to get their messages out.

Williams raised $4,050 and spent $4,634, some of which came from previous election cycles, on signs, advertising and renting a conference room at the Double Tree Hotel.

Gambill has yet to raise any money, but floated his campaign $8,750, which he spent on signs and other advertising.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.