by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When voters go the polls in November to elect a new governor and a handful of other seats, they’ll also have the opportunity to have a major say in the 2011 local elections.
Specifically, they’ll be asked whether the local elections should be moved to the fall or left in their current placement on the calendar.
The primary is set for March 22 while the general election is scheduled for May 17. According to the Supervisor of Elections Office, if the referendum to move the elections is approved this fall, the dates of the two elections are only approximate at this point.
One of the key elements of the referendum that voters will see on the ballot is the financial impact statement. That statement is limited to 75 words and must appear on the ballot in an effort to help educate voters about the referendum they are being asked to approve or deny.
A five-member committee consisting of various City agencies met Wednesday to discuss the financial impact statement. Because the deadline is April 30, the committee will meet again Tuesday to draft the final wording of the statement.
The committee consists of Council Auditor and Chair Kirk Sherman, Peggy Sidman of the Office of General Counsel, Council President Richard Clark and CFO Mickey MIller. Those four (Budget Officer Kent Olson sat in for Miller) drafted Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland to serve as the committee’s fifth member.
“We hope to derive a very quick financial impact statement,” said Sherman.
The statement may be short, but what it says may take a while to finalize. While all ballot referendums must include a financial impact, the statements don’t have to include an exact dollar amount. Sidman said most financial impact statements include ranges. Taking that approach may prove wise.
Holland presented a spreadsheet that shows moving the election may cost about $98,000 more than if the elections remain in the spring. That cost, he explained, is based on training costs associated with his call center.
“If the election is in the spring, there won’t be as much training because we will use most of the same workers from the November 2010 election,” he said, adding the number of elections on a ballot is not what drives the cost of an election.
Holland said the call center is essential to conducting a good election. Over the course of several weeks, before and after an election, Holland employs about 30 people working 40 hours a week at $10 an hour. Many of those, he said, are people between jobs or unemployed at the time.
One of the major issues surrounding the cost of operating the call center is training. If the local elections are moved, it’s unlikely many of the call center employees who will be hired to work this fall will be willing or available the fall of 2011.
Another factor is the presidential preference primary, which will occur in early 2012. Holland said because local elections and national elections differ greatly, there would need to be extra training for the call center employees. Holland said because there has never been a national election a few months after a local election, there’s no way to determine how many call center employees would remain.
“It’s important to have a long period of time with them (call center employees) to handle voter questions,” he said. “In the past, retention has been good.”
Olson is skeptical of the costs associated with training new call center employees. “What I worry about is overstating the impact of the cost,” he said.
In order to make a decision on the wording of the statement, Clark has asked Holland to provide the costs associated with the call center from Holland’s 2008 and current budgets. Olson would like to see the call center employee retention numbers.
The committee, which operates under Florida’s Sunshine Laws, meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Conference Room B in the Council offices.
Holland said if voters approve moving the local elections, candidate qualifying will shift from January 2011 to June of 2011.
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