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Approve the Registrar of Voters' billing of $856,189 in actual reimbursable costs to the districts participating in the November 8, 2011 Consolidated Districts Election; 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 approve the billing of $856,189 in actual reimbursable costs to the districts participating in the November 8, 2011 Consolidated Districts Election and authorize ROV to recognize the revenue from these jurisdictions in FY2011/12.
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 district-specific invoices are attached (Attachment A).
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The FY2011/12 Adopted Budget included $767,025 in revenue for election services in November's Consolidated Districts Election. The actual incurred reimbursable cost for the Consolidated Districts Election is $856,189 and includes $113,436 in vote-by-mail (VBM) election costs that are no longer reimbursed by the State. If these costs are not reimbursed by the school districts, they become a General Fund cost to the County. The election costs due from districts is determined by ROV's standard cost allocation methodology (Attachment B) 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.
The following cities, and school and special districts participated in the Consolidated Districts Election held on November 8, 2011.
School Districts:
· Benicia Unified School District $43,710.54
· Dixon Unified School District $27,880.55
· Fairfield-Suisun Unified School Districts $140,604.05
· Travis Unified School District $26,872.68
· Vacaville Unified School District $116,463.33
· Vallejo City Unified School District $140,657.89
· Solano Community College $299.02
· Solano County Board of Education $598.04
Cities:
· City of Benicia $46,977.43
· City of Fairfield $114,887.50
· City of Vallejo $145,315.37
Special Districts:
· Solano Irrigation District $51,922.79
In prior ROV billings, VBM costs were not included in invoice billings to the school districts as the County was reimbursed by the State for those costs through SB90. However, with the Governor's suspension of SB90 claim reimbursement for VBM costs, the cost for this mandated service is no longer reimbursed by the State. The cost for providing this service to the school districts is included in the election costs to be billed to the districts participating in the November 8, 2011 Consolidated Districts Election. The school districts were provided advanced notice.
On February 23, 2011, a letter was sent (Attachment C) from Lindsey McWilliams, Assistant Registrar of Voters, to Laryn Bishop, Assistant Superintendent for the Solano County Office of Education, regarding matters of mutual interest, specifically likely cost increases due to anticipated Census data and state budget actions, and requirements for accessible polling places as they relate to Elections Code §12283. This letter was provided to county school district staff on March 31, 2011, where Mr. McWilliams spoke at a Solano County Unified School District Association dinner. The following three topics were addressed:
1) Redistricting and potential multiple language requirements
2) SB90 suspension and with the suspension, districts will be billed for services rendered by the County and to anticipate a 25% increase in election service cost
3) Need for the use of schools as polling places
In addition, a letter with the same information was also provided to the following school districts:
1) Roger Halberg, Superintendent of the Dixon Unified School District on February 15, 2011 - hand delivered.
2) Vallejo Unified School Board at their February 2011 Board meeting - hand delivered.
3) Jay Yerkes, President of the Vacaville Unified School District and John Aycock, Superintendent of the Vacaville Unified School District on March 9, 2011 - hand delivered.
4) Solano County College Trustees at their general meeting held on March 16, 2011 - hand delivered.
5) Betty Jensen at the Benicia Unified School District on February 16, 2011 - emailed.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board of Supervisors could choose to:
1) Deny ROV's recommendation; however, doing so would increase County costs since the General Fund will have to pay for the unrecovered costs.
2) Delay billing school districts for County reimbursement of the VBM election costs until a future date; however, doing so would increase County costs, since the General Fund will have to bear the unrecovered costs of $113,436 until reimbursement is effected.
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. County Counsel was consulted on the billing of the school districts for costs no longer reimbursed by the State and supports ROV's recommendation.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION