Increase in School Election Cost Likely as Few Districts Keep Vote in April

The Hillsborough School District could see an increase in cost to run its annual school election, since it is one of the only Somerset County municipalities to keep it in April.

The district normally spends about $17,000 to $18,000 to administer its annual election, according to District Business Administrator Aiman Mahmoud. But, after the to November—which —those costs will likely rise since most other Somerset County districts opted to move their election to November.

School administrators said the cost increase would be handled within the existing 2011-2012 budget.

On Tuesday, the County Clerk’s Office was waiting for votes from the Montgomery, Manville, and Bridgewater Boards of Education—the only bodies that had not decided whether to move elections, Somerset County Deputy Clerk Roseann Brown said. The Montgomery and Manville Boards of Education were expected to make the decision at Tuesday night meetings, while Bridgewater’s voted 5-3 in favor of moving its election to November.

“What happens is we get the benefits of cost versus scale,” Brownsaid. “If there are 21 districts, the costs is less per piece for the same mailings and ballots than if it’s just two or three.”

The County Clerk’s Office splits the cost of administering the elections with the County Board of Elections. The clerk’s office handles printing sample ballots, mailing those ballots to registered voters, and advertising the elections in local newspapers, while the board of elections undertakes costs associated with operating polling machines and paying poll workers, Brown said.

According to Board of Elections Administrator Jerry Midgette, costs from the school election include advertising, master board workers, poll books and poll workers. Each district is billed for its election costs individually, Midgette added.

Last year, the County Clerk’s office billed $8,500 to Hillsborough for its school board election cost. Meanwhile, the Board of Elections Office billed Hillsborough $1,597 during the 2011 school board election.

But, if three or four districts in the county opt for April elections, the cost would likely increase by up to 50 or 60 percent per town, according to the County Clerk’s office. The Board of Elections agreed that the costs would likely rise on its end, but had no estimates on the potential increase.

“If there were four towns still remaining in April, costs could still go up $4,000 or $5,000 dollars,” Brown said.

That cost could increase further if Hillsborough is the only district in the county with an April election. Then, the district would foot the bill for all necessary election services itself, Brown said.

“The ad alone in the Courier cost us $3,000,” she said. “Instead of being divided 21 ways, Hillsborough would have to take the whole cost.”

According to Brown, the County Clerk’s Office spent $72,000 on its portion of school board elections for the 21 municipalities in Somerset. That amount does not include the Board of Elections portion of the cost and is a total for all municipalities, Brown noted.

The cost to run the election in April depends on the size of the town and the number who continue opt out of moving elections to November.

“It just depends on the size of the town, how much it is going to go up,” she said.