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Approve the Registrar of Voters’ billing of $596,613.41 in reimbursable costs for election services provided to school districts participating in the November 5, 2024 General Election as required by Education Code §5421; and Authorize the Registrar of Voters to recognize the revenue from these jurisdictions
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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 $596,613.41 in actual reimbursable costs to school districts participating in the November 5, 2024 General Election as required by Education Code §5421; and
2. Authorize ROV to recognize the revenue from these jurisdictions.
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 Department’s FY2024/25 Working Budget included $960,500 in revenue for election services in the November General Election. The actual incurred reimbursable cost for the General Election is $1,316,411.17 which includes reimbursable costs of $596,613.41 from school districts, $650,078.65 from all seven cities located within the County, and $69,719.11 from the Special Districts. 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 General Election held on November 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 to school districts.
• Solano County Board of Education $84,137.88
• Solano Community College $94,495.49
• Benicia Unified School District $11,616.66
• Dixon Unified School $37,035.08
• Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District $176,061.56
• River Delta Unified School District $9,857.29
• Travis Unified School District $44,596.54
• Vacaville Unified School District $138,812.91
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 $48,084.50
• City of Dixon $29,883.26
• City of Fairfield $164,210.30
• City of Rio Vista $17,684.63
• City of Suisun City $40,371.67
• City of Vacaville $146,509.38
• City of Vallejo $203,334.91
• Special Districts $69,719.11
Costs for federal, state and county elections are borne by the County as mandated by law. Below is the General Fund cost to the County for conducting the General Election.
Federal/State $762,616.84
County $597,259.92
The total cost of the November 2024 General Election was $2,676,287.93 representing a 2.17% decrease from the 2022 November General Election costs. The cost per registered voter for the November 2024 General Election was $9.93. This represents a 5.30% reduction in the cost per registered voter between the two elections. The ROV attributes most of this reduction to continued improvements in staff efficiencies and automated technology to assist with processing vote by mail ballots. This was accomplished while experiencing a 3.20% increase in registered voters between 2022 and 2024.
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