Election changes could prove costly to towns
By Hallie Arnold, Ulster Daily Freeman staff09/21/2005
  
     
TOWN OF ULSTER - Municipal election expenses could as much as triple when local elections are entirely taken over by counties starting Jan. 1 under the federal Help America Vote Act.

Implementing the legislation commonly known as HAVA, which, among other things, centralizes election operations in counties rather than in municipalities, will more than double the Ulster County department's budget, an increase that is likely to be passed on to the towns, county elections commissioners say.

The Ulster County Board of Elections budget, which is $454,095 this year, will increase by $600,000 next year, according to projections. Town-by-town estimates were derived by apportioning the total increase based on voter enrollment in the towns.

"What we're giving you here is just something to budget for, to cover the bases," Republican Election Commissioner Tom Turco told a Tuesday breakfast meeting of the Ulster County Supervisors Association at the Kingston Family Restaurant on state Route 28. "What the county Legislature decides on to charge back, and what our final budget is, could be entirely different. However, by the time we have those numbers, your budget process could be over, and you need to have something in the budget to prepare for HAVA."

The estimates do not include the cost of replacing all 200 of the lever voting machines in Ulster County, because that tab will be paid with state and federal funds. County officials do not know yet if they will replace lever machines with new technology in time for the 2006 elections.

Shawangunk Supervisor John Valk said the shift from town administration of elections to the county will nearly triple his town's costs for elections next year. Valk said this year, the town budgeted about $11,000 for elections, while the election board's projection for 2006 is $32,377.

The city of Kingston, which by virtue of its voter enrollment would pay the most of all the county municipalities next year, will pay $73,681 according to department estimates, compared to $43,250 this year.

Turco and Democratic Deputy Election Commissioner Kathy Mihm said the county will take on a great deal of new responsibilities once all election operations are centralized, including the storage and maintenance of voting machines; transportation costs to move the machines to polling places; training, pay and mileage reimbursement for election inspectors and custodians; and required audit reports generated by systems testing.

In addition, the Board of Elections is looking to hire six new staffers next year - four clerks and two machine technicians - to handle the anticipated increase in workload. Part of that workload stems from a new mandate requiring electronic filing of campaign finance disclosures at the local level.

Mihm said municipal election costs are generally higher than budgeted, because personnel costs to administer elections may not be included in municipal budget figures. These costs include the hiring of election inspectors and custodians, generally done by the town clerks, and delivering voting machines to polling places, which is done in most cases by municipal highway departments.

"We just have to go with the flow, and it's staggering," Rochester Supervisor Pam Duke said about the possible increase in election costs. "It's unfortunate. We have to do what we have to do, but it's a huge increase in what we pay for elections."

Turco said while there may be a one-year delay in the replacement of the lever voting machines across the state, since the state has yet to certify any particular machines so that counties may purchase them, that will not affect the rest of the implementation of the Help America Vote Act.