Officials say lining up city, Clark County election cycles could save millions

Four cities in Clark County are expected to share a $2.4 million cost to hold spring municipal elections next year, a number officials say could be zero if they lined up their election cycle with the county’s.

Clark County data pegs the cost of 2017 city elections at $2.4 million, if the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City all require both primary and general elections in the spring.

The cost for the city of Las Vegas alone is about $1.47 million.

Those new figures for city elections capture the actual county cost for holding them, county spokesman Dan Kulin said.

A county audit last year found that the county was substantially under-billing the cities for their off-year elections. The currently proposed charge for the cities has come down a bit from the cost that was landed on in the audit, which was in excess of $3 million.

City elections have been held in the spring on off years from county, state and federal races, but with the cost of holding city elections at a different time, some have questioned whether they should follow Mesquite’s lead and move their races to line up with the other cycles, in November of even years.

With that move, Mesquite isn’t charged election costs by the county unless there’s a special election or something additional is added to the ballot, Kulin said.

CITIES CONSIDER CHANGE

Las Vegas City Clerk LuAnn Holmes was scheduled to make a presentation at a City Council meeting in early June on the county’s change in reimbursement structure for municipal elections, but that has been delayed until the council’s first meeting in August.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman acknowledged that the city doesn’t see a high turnout holding elections in the spring of odd-numbered years.

“I certainly could see us moving it to the general election cycle if it works financially,” Goodman said. “We want to have an understanding that works for everybody and is the most efficient use of dollars.”

In Henderson, officials are still reviewing all of the election options. One of the ideas being considered is using all mail ballots for voters, but that would require a city charter amendment or the Nevada Legislature making a state statute change, Henderson Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Manager David Cherry wrote in an email.

Boulder City Clerk Lorene Krumm presented in March the possibility of combining elections, but as with the other cities, the council hasn’t taken action. At that time, the number was a “moving target” because some of the charges the county initially proposed were being questioned by city officials, Krumm said.

Krumm anticipates that what the other cities do will hold sway over what Boulder City officials decide to do, because if one or more opt out, “we’ll have a bigger share of the cost,” Krumm said.

“We’re still in talks with the county,” Krumm said. “… I think we’re just going to wait and see how everything falls out.”

Candidates who receive more than 50 percent of the vote in a primary race are declared the victor. If no candidate garners a majority of the primary votes cast, the race continues and is decided in a general election. So it’s possible that candidates win in the primary and the cities won’t be on the hook for the combined $2.4 million cost the county has proposed.

North Las Vegas Clerk Catherine Raynor said the earliest the city would make a move to sync up with the county’s election cycle, if officials decide to do so, would be 2022, in order to be equitable based on term lengths for elected officials.

It’s something they’re looking at and will likely discuss in the future, she said.

OTHER COSTS EXAMINED

In the meantime, Raynor’s office is eyeing ways to lessen what the city pays for elections, which includes additional costs, such as publications, beyond what the county charges. Consolidating voting centers is one option that could be considered that the city would be able to do “long before 2022,” Raynor said.

The cities might pay directly for some other election costs, such as some voting machine deliveries and printing sample ballots, which doesn’t go through the county.

One of the potential drawbacks for incumbents is that their terms could be shortened in order to move municipal elections from the spring of odd-numbered years to November of even-numbered years. And with low turnout compared to county elections, it tends to be easier for incumbents to win in city-only elections.

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani at a past County Commission meeting where the subject of combining elections came up raised that point, and said it makes sense to have all elections at the same time.

“Otherwise, it’s just totally incumbent protection and that’s not a good reason to be wasting the taxpayer dollars,” Giunchigliani said at that meeting.

Las Vegas city elections are scheduled in 2017 for the city’s three even-numbered wards, currently represented by Councilmen Bob Beers, Stavros Anthony and Steve Ross.

Three Municipal Court judge seats are also up for election.

In Henderson, the mayor, Ward 3 council member and a municipal judge seats are up for re-election, and two council positions will be on the Boulder City ballot.

Municipal primary elections are scheduled for April 4, and general elections, if necessary, would take place June 6.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Find @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter.