Officials say a Floyd County mayor violated several state laws during his 2006 election campaign.

The complaint to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance says Prestonsburg mayor Jerry Fannin violated campaign finance laws, and several people in the community say these allegations will only hurt their community.

A complaint filed by local doctor Phillip Simpson, alleges Mayor Jerry Fannin failed to pay thousands of dollars of campaign materials to T & K signs for his 2006 mayoral race among several other things. Fannin was a co-owner of the sign company at the time of the allegations.

Former city council member Shag Branham says, "That, to me, is not fair to the citizens of the city. They were the ones that put him in office and for him to have done something of this manner, and the illegal activity that occurred, it's just a mess, it's unfathomable."

The Registry ruled Fannin failed to file complete and accurate reports of his finances.

Branham says, "It's not just letting the city down, it's letting the tax payers of this community down... to know that something shady happened behind the scenes, and now we're stuck with it."

Registry officials do say this is not uncommon for first time candidates, but is a "serious violation" for an incumbent candidate, and Fannin allegedly violated additional laws by making personal cash payments for campaign materials.

"It's going to hurt us, we need to find ways to be progressive and not have things like this bring our community down," says Branham.

Mayor Fannin told Mountain News he has no comment until all rulings are complete. Officials have not said what penalties Mayor Fannin might face for these allegations.