County officials are discussing the future of the county print shop, which has essentially been closed since the print shop manager had resigned in April.

Cascade County Commissioners voted 2-1 during their Feb. 13 meeting to move the county print shop from the Clerk and Recorder’s office to the commission office.

Commissioner Joe Briggs had proposed the move after the county removed election duties from the clerk’s office and put them under the commission office in December 2023.

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Commissioner Rae Grulkowski was opposed to the move.

The county clerk and recorder is an elected position, but the county print shop isn’t designated under state law as a required office.

In February, Briggs said that years ago, the commission allowed the print shop and its staff to be absorbed under the clerk’s office as it had “significant responsibilities and activities” with the county elections office, which until recently, had also been under the clerk’s office.

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Since the county transferred election administration and operations duties from the clerk to the commission office, “the print shop and its staff need to be available and responsive to the election department to support Cascade County elections generally and does not otherwise have an operational need to be managed by the Clerk and Recorder,” Briggs wrote in his February agenda report.

During a July 25 meeting, Trista Besich, the county’s new chief financial officer, walked commissioners through the print shops previous financials, assets and equipment depreciation.

Grulkowski said that when the former print shop manager left in April, she asked departments for information on their print shop usage.

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She said it seemed that elections, the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office and the City-County Health Department were the biggest users.

Grulkowski said it seemed that those departments had found other options in the meantime, but that the Treasurer’s office indicated their costs had increased by outsourcing printing.

From a high level, Besich said that supply costs have increased about 30 percent for county departments purchasing printing supplies internally, rather than from the county print shop; and increased about 115 percent to print jobs externally.

She said those figures didn’t include freight charges or expedited printing costs.

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Over the last five years, Besich said the print shop averaged about $175,000 in revenue annually, with expenses ranging from $135,000 to $14,000, meaning the shop was covering its costs and generating some revenue for the county.

It’s an enterprise fund in the county budget, meaning it’s designed to covers its own expenses by user fees and not be supported by the county general fund, which is primarily tax revenue.

Commissioner Joe Briggs said “so your analysis shows us that the print shop saves us a considerable amount of money?”

Besich said yes, and keeps those revenues in house rather than spending county funds out of state for printing.

Grulkowski said she wouldn’t call those revenues significant and asked about the cost of employing someone to run the print shop.

Grulkowski asked if they kept the print shop, what would the staffing look like and said that in the past it wasn’t a full time position and had been more seasonal or on demand.

“I don’t see that this is a full time position and if it is, I’m sure open to that demonstration,” she said.

Briggs said that wasn’t correct and historically it had been a two-person operation.

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He said the print shop had been tired to the elections office since the county had a desire to keep elections and the ballot printing operation under their control.

Terry Thompson, county elections administrator, said that in the two elections she’s conducted so far this year, the county had to outsource printing the school ballots since the county print shop closed as that printing needed to be done.

She said that also required expedited shipping to meet statutory deadlines for elections and cost the county an additional $20,000, a portion of which was passed on to the Great Falls Public Schools district.

Thompson said GFPS sent a letter to the county expressing their concern with that additional printing cost.

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In that letter, GFPS officials wrote to support maintaining and using the county print shop.

The district’s bill for the 2024 election had a substantial increase over previous years.

Specifically, the 2024 election cost $77,686.24, a 69 percent increase over $45,945 in 2023, according to the district.

Their bill was $30,543.04 in 2022, according to GFPS.

This year’s ballot printing was $17,416,01, an increase of $10,799.75 over the previous year, according to GFPS.

“We understand that the print center employee resigned on the day the ballots were to be printed, creating an unexpected challenge. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the elections office in finding an alternative source to print the ballots, ensuring that our election could be conducted on time and in accordance with the law. However, we believe this experience underscores the importance of having a reliable and cost-effective internal print shop. The significant cost savings we experienced in previous years when your internal print shop was used highlight its value to the district and the broader tax-paying community. The ability to manage such critical tasks in-house not only ensures timely and compliant elections but also provides substantial financial benefits along with the flexibility of managing unforeseen circumstances,” GFPS officials wrote in their letter. “We respectfully urge you to consider the importance of your internal print shop and the positive impact it has on the operational efficiency and financial management of not only our district, but all entities who are supported by taxpayer dollars. As we have a limited budget that is directed to our mission of educating our students, every dollar is important to direct to that cause. Maintaining your own print shop will help us continue to support our mission of providing quality education while effectively managing public funds.”

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Because election timelines are to tighter, Thompson said, “to me, it’s a no-brainer from my management of elections. I would much rather prefer to have our own internal print shop” instead of having to outsource. “I’m in favor of keeping the print shop and I’m in favor of managing the print shop if need be,” she said.

She said if the county opts not to operate the print shop, they’ll have to increase their budgets to account for increased printing costs.

She said that elections should remain the primary customers and that she will figure out a plan for what the staffing needs to look like. She said it’s a shame that the county has more than $1 million in equipment sitting around unused currently.

“There’s all kinds of possibilities,” she said.

Besich said the city is one of the most frequent external users, but also a governmental entity user.

Capt. Scott Van Dyken, county undersheriff, said the county print shop produces a number of their needed forms, including triplicate forms that have carbon copy pages.

“They do an awesome job for us,” he said.

Briggs said he thought they should get the job description posted to start the hiring process to reopen the print shop and build as they go.

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Grulkowski said she didn’t know that the commission office had the capacity to manage the shop and said the elections office should plan to outsource ballot printing again for November.

Briggs said that since Thompson, the biggest user of the print shop, had offered to manage the print shop, at this point, he thought they should proceed on that basis and adjust as necessary.

Commissioner Jim Larson said they have to be careful not to compete against private business.

Besich said that historically, the county print shop has primarily done work for other governmental entities without disrupting private business operations.