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Clerk outlines elections equipment needs and flags business-license and animal-license revenue adjustments
Summary
Clerk Sanyat reviewed the clerk office budget, including election equipment, part-time staffing, and business- and animal-license revenue adjustments; she said capital requests and grant reimbursements are expected and promised a budget amendment to correct where election staffing costs were charged.
Clerk Sanyat presented the clerk's office personnel and budget pages during the April 15 budget review and described several line items tied to election administration and department revenues.
Sanyat said the clerk's office is spending heavily on elections this year: the requested supplies and capital-outlay accounts reflect needs for tabulators, laptops and new scanning equipment. She identified $28,000 requested for capital outlay to upgrade tabulators and noted the city has previously purchased equipment through grants and insurance reimbursements; she said the department still expects to be short by several tabulators. Sanyat said part-time election staffing was budgeted at $5,000 for the coming year; the current year to date shows $734 charged to the clerk because the temporary election staff have not been able to sign time to the clerk's office in Paycom. She said she plans a budget amendment to re-code those payroll charges so the budget reflects actual election staffing costs.
Sanyat also summarized recent reimbursements and grants related to elections: she said the city received approximately $118.05 (clarification needed), $13,000 for August early voting, $17,000 for November early voting, and additional grants of roughly $27,000 and $30,000; the city also received an MMRMA reimbursement for a ceiling leak. She said the state is discussing an election-security grant for next fiscal year but that amounts are not yet known.
On revenue lines the clerk recommended adjusting business-license and animal-license projections. The clerk and councilors discussed changing the recommended business-license revenue for FY25–26 from $20,000 to $10,000 because current collections through March stood near $7,800 and the full year has only a few months left. They agreed to set animal-license revenue at $15,000 (up from current realized $14,700) given seasonal timing and existing payments already collected.
Sanyat also noted fees for birth and death certificates are projected at $12,000 but current activity is around $7,000; councilors agreed to reduce that projection. She closed by saying she will prepare written clarifications and a budget amendment to reconcile payroll coding issues and to reflect actual election staffing and reimbursements.
No formal ordinance or vote was recorded in the hearing for these adjustments; they were discussed as recommended edits to the draft recommended budget.
