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Auditor proposes shifting elections billing to full overhead, jurisdictions warned of big increases
Summary
Thurston County Auditor Hall told commissioners June 16 he plans to move elections billing to a 100% overhead-recovery model, a change he said could raise some jurisdictions' election bills roughly 56% and will require coordination with local governments and federal compliance checks.
Thurston County Auditor Hall told the Board of County Commissioners on June 16 that his office plans to change how election costs are billed to jurisdictions, moving from a partial overhead model to a 100% overhead-reimbursement approach.
Hall said the shift is intended to make elections “a 0 net impact to the General fund” and to recover true overhead costs consistent with federal cost rules. “We are moving to, 100 overhead reimbursement model,” he said, adding that the change is meant to capture depreciation, IT and other real overhead expenses rather than continuing the prior 15% overhead add-on.
The auditor presented a worksheet showing example impacts; he said some jurisdictions could see election costs rise by about 56%. “For example, we built the state dollars $155,000 last year. The new costs would be $248,000,” Hall said. He also noted the county must follow 2 CFR 200 when identifying allowable overhead charges and that some costs—such as equipment—must be recorded as depreciation rather than one-time entries.
Commissioners pressed for more detail on implementation. Several urged the auditor to consider phasing the change to ease the burden on smaller jurisdictions. “Is there any way…that we could, like, phase in some of these new costs?” one commissioner asked; Hall said he would review the WAC and speak with peers in other counties and suggested a phased approach might be possible but that he needed to confirm regulatory constraints.
Hall said the auditor’s office will continue outreach to jurisdictions and municipal partners, and that financial services will take a leading role building the more complex billing process. He acknowledged some small districts—cemetery districts were singled out—may struggle to absorb the increase and that staff will meet with jurisdictions in July to explain anticipated bills.
Next steps: the auditor said he will continue stakeholder outreach, share the worksheet examples, examine regulatory details and report back to the board; commissioners asked for a discussion of phased implementation options before any final policy change.
