The Transportation Agency for Monterey’s Measure X costs charged by the Monterey County Elections Department were $715,272.35. TAMC staff met with the Monterey County Registrar of Voters and members of his staff to review the election costs allocated to Measure X. All costs were valid elections costs that were allocated following the appropriate allocation methodology followed by the Election Department.

 Election costs of $715,272.35 were allocated by the Monterey County Elections Department to ballot Measure X.

On May 9, 2017 TAMC staff met with Claudio Valenzuela, Registrar of Voters and members of his staff to discuss and review the election costs allocated by his Elections Department to Measure X.

The Election Department staff fully explained their allocation methodology. They allocate common election costs to ballot items by the total of registered voter. In the November 8, 2016 election the Measure X percentage of registered voters to total was 20.366 %. The Election Department provided their spreadsheets for staff to review.

All costs were tied from the provided Election Department detail cost sheets to the summary invoice by description of charges. The Measure X cost per registered voter was $3.85. This cost was in the range of the estimate that the Election Department had provided TAMC.

The cost per voter was much higher than the MST Measure for the November 4, 2014 election. The reasons for the increased cost were the following: first, the November 8, 2016 election had a larger turnout because it was a presidential election; second, the Measure X had considerably more pages of print in the Voter Information Guide (including translation), and thus much higher printing costs; and third, the County Budget Office implemented a new way of allocating indirect cost. All these factors caused the Measure X cost per voter to be $3.85.

Staff has reviewed the costs for Measure X and found them to be appropriately allocated to the Measure.