An item appropriated in the budget of a county officer other than the county election board for compensating regular employees of the office may not be expended for extra help or for payment of travel expenses. From, and only from, an item in the budget for his office wherein appropriation is made separate from paying regular or permanent deputies may a county officer make expenditures for extra help or travel expenses. This act shall not apply to counties with a population over three hundred thousand (300,000) at the last decennial census.
Okla. Stat. tit. 19, § 160