(Editor’s note: This story has been expanded and the headline changed since it was first posted to provide more context.)
Responding to a question from Councilor John Fogle at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Loveland city clerk Delynn Coldiron said that costs to hold a special election in Ward IV to recall Councilor Don Overcash could top $200,000, after city staff time is considered.
Coldiron estimated that direct costs for a special election would be between $65,000 and $95,000, and include items such as postage and election judges, while the amount of staff time needed for the process would add another $153,000, for a total of $248,000.
“There would be city attorney time, city manager time, there would be time from facility staff, IT staff, and communication staff and HR staff,” she said.
The question came up after the council passed a motion by Fogle to introduce a new business item before the anticipated homeless encampments, which passed by a vote of 6-3, with Andrea Samson, Pat McFall and Jacki Marsh voting no.
“I want to make sure everybody understands what we’re getting into,” Fogle said of the request for the cost information. “…Staff time is actually more expensive than the physical cost of mailing and printing and all of that stuff by almost a factor of two.”
Coldiron said she based her estimates of direct costs on a recent recall effort in Estes Park, but scaled up for the approximately 17,000 residents in Ward IV. She also explained that vendors have warned her of potential cost increases for postage and other election services.
As for her estimate of $153,000 for staff time, Coldiron explained that such indirect costs are not normally accounted for in election estimates because “we’re city employees, and it’s just part of the work that we do,” but she calculated the information at Fogle’s request. She added that no additional staff would be hired to shoulder the workload.
Coldiron also acknowledged that her estimates do not include additional time or costs for a recount process, if the final vote is close enough to trigger one.
Coldiron said that the city would have to conduct the election without assistance from Larimer County, since redistricting has yet to be completed in Loveland, and so there’s a mismatch between election boundaries.
“We don’t think that’s appropriate in the middle of a petition that’s already been turned in,” she told the council. “I’m not even sure we could do it in time, because there’s a lot of things that you have to work out to match those boundaries.”
