| In a widely expected move the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees has voted, unanimously, to move their elections to November. Board members cited the cost savings in holding an election jointly with ACC as well as taking advantage of increased turnout. The change would move not only the 2012 election date, but all future trustee elections to November of even numbered years. Terms for members in districts 2, 3, 5, & 8 will be extended by six months. Representing those districts are Sam Guzmán, Christine Brister, Mark Williams, and Annette LoVoi (at-large).
Board president Mark Williams stated the following in the Statesman.
"This will substantially increase voter turnout and significantly reduce cost for the district," Austin school board President Mark Williams said. "There's benefits in increasing access to voters, and part of a public school district is public involvement."
District 7 Trustee Robert Schneider said the following in an interview with KUT.
"If you look at the percentage of voters in May of even numbered years versus November of even numbered years, it's literally like ten percent or so on average for May versus fifty or sixty percent for November. I mean the more people you have involved and informed the better your process is going to be, so it was a very easy decision for me to make," Schneider told KUT News.
The move to November elections will save about $300,000 for the school district next year, while leaving the City of Austin as the sole entity holding and funding a May election to an estimated total of $1.25 million, not including another $500,000 for a June runoff. The current 2012 city budget only calls for spending $791,269 so additional funds are expected to be drawn from one of the city's emergency or reserve funds.
When asked about the increased cost to the City of Austin, councilmember Kathie Tovo, who voted to keep the May election date, stated the following in the Statesman.
"The city has held municipal elections without partners, for example this past spring," Council Member Kathie Tovo said in an interview.
Councilmember Tovo is referring to her own election this past spring, which included a runoff whose cost raised concerns by a number of her campaign's key supporters as well as herself in an interview with KXAN.
The cost of the runoff for taxpayers according to the city, $528,400, or $24 per expected vote.
"It certainly will cost the taxpayers a lot more than many of them would want to spend on a runoff election," Tovo said.
I had an opportunity to ask Councilmember Tovo about the costs during last week's council debate on the matter. She stated that she "never once raised a concern about the cost of having a runoff election." Our remarks begin at the 21:30 mark in the video below the fold. |
