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Commission seeks factual voter-education materials, requests fiscal-impact figures for charter ballot
Summary
Commissioners agreed voter guides should be neutral and factual; they asked staff to include fiscal-impact information about the transition to a city manager, the reduced commission size, and estimated budget effects while noting that the proposals do not themselves request new mills.
The Government Study Commission discussed development of voter-education materials for proposed charter amendments at its June 8 meeting, focusing on format, fiscal transparency and outreach methods.
Ms. Adams asked commissioners to consider formats — printed booklets, flyers, website content or a combination — and noted available funding would affect choices. Commissioner Dennehy recommended including fiscal-impact information, specifically: (1) costs associated with transitioning from a Chief Executive/Chief of Staff to a City Manager structure, (2) costs related to reducing the Commission from 12 part‑time commissioners to five full‑time commissioners, and (3) estimated budgetary impacts and comparisons to the overall City‑County budget. Ms. Casey emphasized that none of the recommendations request additional mills and that the materials should avoid stating taxes will go up or down absent supporting data.
Commissioners generally favored a neutral, informational presentation that describes what each ballot option would do rather than advocating for a position. They also said voter materials should include clear explanations of fire-governance issues, taxing‑district authority and areas where legal interpretations diverge, and requested input from both paid and volunteer fire-department representatives when preparing explanatory language.
For outreach, commissioners discussed printed guides, website and QR-code resources, public presentations and a livestreamed public information session through the Emergency Operations Center and the County’s YouTube channel. Commissioners agreed materials must clearly state that charter changes must be approved by voters before any subsidiary ballot options take effect.
The Commission did not take final action on voter materials at the meeting and directed staff to compile fiscal information and format options for consideration at a future meeting; the next meeting is scheduled for June 15, 2026.
