GFPS receives May 2 election bill
Great Falls Public Schools received a bill for their May 2 election.
They received the bill after 5 p.m. June 20 in an email from Cascade County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant.
As of June 27, the Great Falls Public Library had not yet received a bill for their June 6 levy election and as of June 28, the Fort Shaw Irrigation District hadn’t received a bill for their May 2 election.
The fiscal year for both entities ends June 30.
The bill sent to GFPS was $45,945.69.
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The district paid the bill, according to Brian Patrick, GFPS business operations manager.
The bill is $4,124.60 over Merchant’s April estimate, but the numbers didn’t appear to add up, and upon further analysis by Patrick and The Electric, the math in Merchant’s April estimate to the district was off by $3,720.02 in a subsection, which would have made the estimate $38,101.07.
Merchant’s April estimate was $41,821.01.
The cost to the district for the 2022 election was $43,469.06, according to district records.
In her email to the school district, Merchant said the invoice includes the cost of reprinting the permit number on the envelopes.
GFPS’ Patrick developed a three year comparison of their election costs and a portion of that is below.
In her estimate, that cost was $4,030.
In the bill, that cost was $4,095.
Merchant’s April estimate did not include the cost of printing ballots, nor did the GFPS bill, but it did include the cost for ballot stock with $3,720 for the estimate and $4,560 on the invoice.
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According to county documents, the county print shop has charged the elections office for several expenses related to the May 2 GFPS election. The Electric first reported these costs in April.
Those charges were:
- election envelopes and instructions on March 7 for about $15,000
- instructions reprinted on March 30 for $4,692
- 48,005 ballots printed on April 10 for $19,202
Merchant’s cost estimate provided to GFPS included costs for 31,000 ballots.
The Electric has requested a total cost for the May 2 elections, and the June 6 library election.
The Electric also submitted a records request in April for emails pertaining to the May 2 election and the June 6 library election.
The county acknowledged the request on April 4.
On April 11, The Electric followed up on getting the cost estimate for the request and Carey Ann Haight, deputy county attorney, said she contract the county IT department to provide her with the requested information.
“I know they are extremely busy, and I have not heard back from them yet. Once I have an idea of the volume of documents related to your request which will necessitate my review, I’ll be able to provide you with an estimate for my time,” Haight said.
On April 4, Haight told The Electric, “given that each email will require my review to screen emails which are protected by law (employee privacy, HIPAA, litigation, attorney/client privilege, etc.) you will be charge for my time, which will be billed at $50 per hour. I anticipate that reviewing and screening the volume of emails and data you have requested will easily take several hours of my time.”
The county also charges 50 cents for the first page, and 25 cents for each additional page of documents provided and Haight said that applies whether the documents are provided as a hard copy or in electronic format.
On April 17, Carey Ann Haight, deputy county attorney, told The Electric that the county IT department “has indicated they anticipate having emails routed to me by Friday of this week. I will let you know about anticipated costs when I have made a summery review of the volume of emails provided and let you know a cost estimate. Upon receipt of payment of the cost estimate I plan to be able to release those documents to you within the 30-day timeframe established in policy.”
On April 25, Haight told The Electric that the cost estimate was $100.
On April 26, The Electric delivered a $100 check to the County Attorney’s Office.
As of June 29, The Electric has not received the requested records.
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