FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County's slate of elections next year could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the last election year, election officials said Tuesday.
Jennifer Price, election coordinator, laid out her budget prediction for 2016 during the Election Commission's meeting. It's still early in the budgeting process, but the officials said they hope to request between $650,000 and $1.1 million to cover 2016's special, primary and general elections.
Voting Equipment Pilot Program
Secretary of State Response
Earlier this month Benton, Crawford and Washington counties asked to be added to the pilot program to roll out new voting equipment to a few counties. Since then, the Secretary of State’s office said it’d be willing to consider doing so, but only if more state money becomes available. Whether that will happen is unclear.
Source: Staff report
For comparison, 2014's election budget was about $540,000. The last year with a presidential vote, 2012, had a budget of about $440,000.
New voting equipment, rising population and voter rolls, more training, more work for poll workers and other factors all pumped up the costs, Price said.
"We have to think what could happen," she said, pointing to the uncertainty of how many special elections and runoffs will come around. "That keeps us from having to go to the Quorum Court to ask for more money (throughout the year)."
The three commissioners, who are appointed by the majority political parties, all said elections are one of government's core duties.
"It's the biggest budget we've ever had because it's the biggest election year we've ever had," said Max Deitchler, commission's sole Democrat.
The new equipment is the biggest new budgetary drag. The state hopes to replace all of its ballot counters and touch screens in time for the 2016 general election for a total cost of $30 million, though state officials are still hunting for sources of money to pay the bill.
Washington and Benton counties would get about $1.5 million each under the plan, but their election commissions say that won't be enough, because it's based on outdated voter numbers and didn't take population changes into account.
Washington County will need to spend at least $420,000 on top of the state allocation to meet its growing needs, Price said. If they ask for the amount all at once, that would push the commission's 2016 budget north of $1 million. Splitting the cost into three years would keep the request around $800,000.
Washington County isn't part of a state pilot program to put new equipment in a few counties in time for the March primary. The staggered equipment roll-out means poll workers would need to be trained for one set of equipment, then another, Price said.
Such a budget request is likely to face an uphill battle among the Quorum Court, which has denied department spending requests this year for as little as $7,200 after hours of discussion and argument.
The county's overarching budget oscillates around $60 million each year. The justices of the peace sheared $4 million in spending for this year to rebuild reserves, and that concern remains.
One factor might make the request easier to swallow: Cities and the state reimburse the commission for poll workers, equipment rentals and other expenses for elections. The county covers half the general election's cost but otherwise bills most of an election's cost to the relevant government.
Price said such reimbursements could total almost $333,000 next year, meaning the county's election spending in practice would be that much lower than requested. Taxpayers provide the money regardless, but the reimbursements could help the county keeps its budget in line.
NW News on 07/29/2015