Title
Staff Report for a Resolution to Appropriate $67,954 in Additional Funds to Offset Increased Printing and Staffing Costs for the 2014 General Municipal Election from the General Fund Economic Uncertainty Reserve Fund Balance
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends the City Council appropriate $67,954 in additional funds to offset the increased costs for the November 4, 2014 General Municipal Election from the General Fund Economic Uncertainty Reserve Fund Balance.
BACKGROUND
The November 4, 2014 General Municipal Election for the City of San Leandro included three city council seats, the mayoral seat and two ballot measures. The adopted FY 2014-15 City budget included $110,000 to conduct the 2014 election.
For the November 2014 election the Alameda County Registrar of Voters (ROV) added four new languages (Hindi, Korean, Japanese and Khmer) to the original five (English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog) for translation of election materials. To accommodate the additional languages, the ROV increased its staff of bilingual trainers, proofers, translators, election support and poll workers to provide translation, polling and other service needs to the nine diverse language populations. These needs resulted in increased staffing costs to the County and also triggered a spike in printing costs, which included additional bilingual materials and signage for polling places.
Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) was implemented in 2010 and per the adopted memorandum of understanding between the City of San Leandro and the ROV, all licensing fees were deferred for the first three years. Consistent with that agreement, the licensing fee of $15,527.18 was assessed to the City of San Leandro for the first time after the 2014 election and is an on-going assessment.
Per the adopted memorandum of understanding between the City of San Leandro and Alameda County, San Leandro is one of three cities (including Berkeley and Oakland) who participate in RCV, and must reimburse Alameda County for its proportionate share of election costs. This includes staffing and printing costs and the licensing fee. Proportionate shares are based on voter registration statistics in each city; San Leandro’s share of RCV billing is 12.08%.
After the 2014 election the ROV submitted invoices to San Leandro for reimbursement costs in the total amount of $177,954.
Given the difference between the allocated amount of $110,000 and the election costs of $177,954, staff recommends that the City Council appropriate additional funds in the amount of $67,954 to cover the remainder of election costs from the General Fund Economic Uncertainty Reserve fund balance.
Analysis
San Leandro put forth two ballot measures in the November 2014 election - Measure HH and Measure II. Measure II was relatively straightforward and required three pages in the sample ballot book; however Measure HH was more robust and required seven pages. Given the additional languages and increased staffing required by the ROV, the sheer length of Measure HH resulted in a sharp increase in total election costs relative to previous elections.
In preparation for any upcoming election, the City Clerk’s office relies on voter registration statistics, “cost per voter” estimates provided by the ROV, as well as the number of candidates and measures the City will include on ballot cards. Budget allocation proposals for the 2014 election were consistent with prior elections. However, due to the unanticipated increase in languages and the compounded effect of additional staffing and printing costs, coupled with the newly assessed licensing fees, the City’s 2014 election budget was under-unfunded.
Given these variances, staff requests that the City Council appropriate $67,954 in additional funds to cover election costs.
Fiscal Impacts
The total cost to cover all remaining 2014 election expenses is $67,954, therefore a transfer from the general fund economic uncertainty reserve fund balance.
Budget Authority
Election costs of $110,000 were appropriated in the 2014-15 Adopted Budget, account number 010-11-031-5890, and in order to fully fund the actual expenditures, a transfer of $67,954 from the General Fund Economic Uncertainty Reserve fund balance is requested.
ATTACHMENT
None.
PREPARED BY: Tamika Greenwood, City Clerk, City Manager’s Office