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Approve the Registrar of Voters’ billing of $101,952.32 in reimbursable costs for election services provided to school districts participating in the March 5, 2024 Primary Election as required by Education Code §5421; and Authorize the Registrar of Voters to recognize the revenue
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Registrar of Voters (ROV) recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve the billing of $101,952.32 in actual reimbursable costs to school districts participating in the March 5, 2024 Primary Election as required by Education Code §5421; and
2. Authorize ROV to recognize the revenue.
SUMMARY:
Election Code §10520 allows ROV to determine the actual costs incurred for conducting an election for a district and to bill each district accordingly. Education Code §5421 requires the Board of Supervisors to approve the costs billed to school districts. Copies of the invoices to the school districts are attached.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The actual incurred reimbursable cost for the March 2024 General Election is $169,807.37 which includes reimbursable costs of $101,952.32 from school districts, and $67,855.05 from the City of Benicia. If these costs are not reimbursed by the respective agencies, they would become a General Fund cost to the County. The election costs due from the school districts, cities and special districts are determined by ROV’s standard cost allocation methodology (attached) using the Auditor-Controller’s methodology for computing productive hourly billing rates for staff time.
DISCUSSION:
The reimbursement of County costs for conducting elections for districts is governed by the Election Code and Education Code. The relevant code sections are:
Election Code §10520. Each district involved in a general district election in an affected county shall reimburse the county for the actual costs incurred by the county elections official thereof in conducting the general district election for that district. The county elections official of the affected county shall determine the amount due from each district and shall bill each district accordingly.
Education Code §5421. The cost of any election held within a single district shall be borne by the entire district, and shall be paid out of its funds. Election costs shall be determined by the county elections official and approved by the county board of supervisors.
Below are the school districts that participated in the Primary Election held on March 5, 2024, including the portion of actual costs incurred by ROV for election services provided to the respective districts. Per Education Code §5421, the Board of Supervisors are required to approve the billing for the election services.
• Sacramento County Board of Education $33,873.70
• Benicia Unified School District $68,010.10
• Davis Joint Unified School District $68.52
In addition, the following cities and districts also had measures, offices or other election services included in the General Election and have been invoiced for the actual costs incurred by ROV for election services provided.
• City of Benicia $67,855.05
Costs for federal, State and county elections are borne by the County as mandated by law. The General Fund cost to the County for conducting the March 2024 General Election, including federal, State, and county measures and offices was $2,158,273.
The average actual cost per registered voter for the March 2024 Primary Election was $3.61. This is a 25% increase from the $2.89 actual cost per registered voter in the 2022 General Election. The ROV attributes most of this increase from increased cost in postage, paper, and ballot programming complications for a party based primary election.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board of Supervisors could choose not to approve the reimbursable costs to school districts; however, doing so would increase County costs since the General Fund will have to pay for the unrecovered costs.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The ROV’s methodology for computing billable productive labor rates has been reviewed for compliance with generally accepted accounting principles by the Auditor-Controller’s Office.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION