Hayes: Recall petitions cost county $6,750

Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes released the costs of verifying the signatures on four recall petitions for the City of Coeur d’Alene.

“We’ve had several requests for the cost information,” Hayes said, in a press release. “The total is approximately $6,750, all of which is for wages. This does not include 180 hours of time by the Clerk, Chief Deputy Clerk and the Elections Manager, who are salaried employees."

All permanent elections staff members worked on the recall verification task, plus two county employees loaned from the auditor’s department. In addition, several temporary workers who had previously worked on elections tasks joined the project, and five additional temporary workers helped out for one Saturday.

“Most days the crew worked 10 or 11 hours, so there were several hundred hours involved, including some overtime," Hayes said.

The Kootenai County Elections budget for fiscal year 2012 is $599,613. The state of Idaho is expected to contribute about $220,000 for election consolidation; the remaining funds needed are sourced from property taxes. No additional state funds will accrue to Kootenai County as a result of the need to verify the recall petition signatures, Hayes said.

“However, we complied with Idaho Code," he said.