Auditor outlines elections, real estate and township pay issues during FY26 budget review

Auditor's Office staff reviewed divisions and budget requests for FY26, focusing on training, the county's statutorily required tax mailing, election technology needs and an extended discussion about township trustee and clerk compensation.

Tim Jamieson, systems real estate tax manager, summarized the office's work: three divisions (elections, accounts payable/payroll and real estate), 8,755 claims processed in calendar 2024, more than 10,500 payroll payments and tax-bill calculations for more than 75,000 parcels. He flagged ongoing training needs because several long-tenured employees plan to retire and noted a new recurring printing/postage cost driven by state law that requires the county to mail notice packets to taxpayers.

Staff said the mandated property-tax mailing (a Senate/House-file requirement) ran about 43,000 pieces and cost less than the budgeted estimate in the prior year; the auditor proposed budgeting about $30,000 for printing and postage in FY26 because postage rates remain uncertain. A software hosting cost of roughly $3,900 was noted for hosting newly digitized real estate transfer records.

In the elections budget, the auditor (Karen) outlined operational differences between odd and even fiscal years and described workload changes tied to technology. Karen said election operations have become highly IT-dependent (about 200 laptops/electronic poll books and 140 voting machine units require maintenance and testing). She proposed converting a soon-to-be-vacant election specialist role into an "election technician" role to capture technical skill requirements and asked the board for permission to negotiate the position with the union; she said the change should not increase overall salaries because of internal reallocation tied to her transition to the county auditor role. The proposal to negotiate the new job with the union is a request for direction, not an approved personnel action.

Karen also reported plans to demo alternative electronic poll-book vendors in March before deciding whether to replace roughly 200 laptops used at precincts. She warned that voting-machine equipment bought in 2016 has an estimated 10-year service life; the original purchase price in 2016 was about $650,000 and staff said replacement costs will be higher when they come due.

A lengthy discussion followed about township trustee and clerk pay. Staff reported current per-diem compensation for township officials is $11 per meeting, a rate set in January 2000. Townships represent unincorporated areas and perform duties such as negotiating rural fire and ambulance contracts and maintaining cemeteries. Staff outlined several options (examples included raising per diem to $20 or $50, capping paid meetings, or adding a monthly stipend for clerks to cover bookkeeping duties) and estimated budget impacts ranging from roughly $3,000 at current rates up to $13,600 if all officials claimed four $50 meetings annually. No change was adopted; supervisors asked staff to prepare more precise cost and levy-impact estimates and to return with recommendations.

Board members and staff also discussed copier and scanner life cycles, contingency plans if equipment fails, and capital-planning options including a multi-year replacement schedule for laptops and voting machines. Staff said they will return with updated cost estimates for major capital replacements and will negotiate the proposed election technician position with the union if the board directs.