Agenda Item Name:
title
Approval of Use of Reserves and Budget Amendment for Purchase of Election Servers, Software and Equipment.
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Presenter:
Kim A. Barton -Supervisor of Elections
Carl Delesdernier - Chief Deputy -Supervisor of Elections
Kevin Smith - Director of Information and Telecommunication Services (ITS)
Description:
Approval of Use of General Fund Reserves for the Purchase of Election Servers, Software and Equipment.
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Recommended Action:
recommended action
Approval to use General Fund reserves in the amount of $85,000 to purchase the Elections server hardware, software and accessories, and approval of attached budget amendment.
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Prior Board Motions:
recommended action
None
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Fiscal Consideration:
fiscal consideration
The total cost of the new equipment is just under $90,000. Approval of this item provides the use of the General Fund reserves in the amount of $85,000 to purchase servers, software, and accessories; the Supervisor of Elections’ budget will cover the balance of the costs.
Excerpt from the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Board Approved Budget Policy:
a. Reserve for contingency requests in the General Fund, Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) Law Enforcement and Municipal Services Benefit Unit (MSBU) Fire Funds must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners. The Board will use the procedures and evaluation criteria set forth in this, and other policies. Such requests will be evaluated as to the:
i. Urgency of the request.
• The Supervisor of Election must bring election systems within compliance per the State Audit buy November 1, 2023.
ii. Scope of services to be provided.
• This request will finalize all the internal work that could be accomplished to bring system in compliance.
iii. Short and long-term fiscal impact of the request.
• Short term impact as it is a one-time request to utilize reserves.
iv. Potential for alternative methods of funding or providing the service(s).
• Internal work was completed by Supervisor of Elections and Information Telecommunication (IT) to get to this point; no duplication of service. No alternative funding methods.
v. Review for duplication of service(s) with other agencies.
• Internal work was completed by Supervisor of Elections and IT to get to this point; no duplication of service. No alternative funding methods.
vi. Review of efforts to secure non-County funding.
• Supervisor of Election is funded through County funds and the compliance date precludes us from including in the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget request.
vii. Discussion of why funding was not sought during the normal budget cycle.
• Supervisor of Election is funded through County funds and the compliance date precludes us from including in the FY24 budget request.
viii. Review of the impact of not funding or delaying funding to the next fiscal year.
• One-time impact related to State Audit. Not funding or delay will put Supervisor of Elections out of compliance and may further impact County voting needs.
Strategic Guide:
strategic guide
Infrastructure
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Background:
The Supervisor of Elections office is required to stay in compliance with the state minimum security procedures. Information and Telecommunication Services (ITS) and the Supervisor of Elections have been working together to meet the requirements of the most recent state audit and have resolved most items; however, this item cannot be fixed in house. The deadline for compliance is November 1, so the purchase of this item cannot wait until the start of the next fiscal year.