Counties Bill State for Recall

Four months after California voters tossed Gov. Gray Davis out of office, county governments are launching a campaign to recover $43 million they spent on the recall election.

County officials acknowledge they may have a hard time prying the money away from Sacramento during the budget crisis. But it was a statewide election, they say, so the state should pay for it.

Even California’s election chief agrees, but because state law doesn’t specify who should pay for a gubernatorial recall, there’s no requirement for counties to be reimbursed for staffing polling places, counting votes and printing and mailing sample ballots.

Those expenses came as the counties were already struggling with budget problems. And since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month proposed taking $1.3 billion in property taxes from local governments to help balance the state budget, county leaders have become more insistent about seeking reimbursement.

Last week, Los Angeles County sent the state a $7.7-million invoice for its recall expenses. At least three small counties -- Tulare, Napa and El Dorado -- also have billed the state.

“When the counties were in better financial times, it wouldn’t have been as big of a deal,” said Rusty Dupray, chairman of the Board of Supervisors of El Dorado County, which billed the state in December for $330,483.

“Now the state is cutting us, and then they impose this election on us. We’re going to be a little bit more aggressive in trying to get our funds back.”

Counting both county and state expenses, the cost of the election is estimated at $59 million -- $7 million less than state officials predicted before voters went to the polls Oct. 7.

The counties’ recall expenses ranged from $6,600 in the state’s smallest county -- Alpine, population 1,210 -- to the nearly $8-million high in Los Angeles County. Orange County’s cost was $2.1 million, including $790,000 for printing and $487,000 for poll workers and additional labor, said Steve Rodermund, registrar of voters.

California law requires the state to reimburse counties when the governor calls a special election to fill vacancies. Los Angeles County Registrar Conny B. McCormack, for example, said her office has conducted 12 special elections in the last decade to fill vacancies created when lawmakers left office or died before their terms expired. Each time, the state reimbursed the county.

But the recall was different. It was not intended to fill a vacancy and it was Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante who, by law, called for the vote.

A bill that would plug the legal loophole and make the state responsible for the expense was introduced before the recall by Assemblyman John Longville (D-Rialto). The bill did not make it out of committee, but Longville said he intends to pursue it again this year. “It was a statewide race. The counties had nothing to do with this,” he said. “There’s no reason county government should have to absorb the costs.”

Finding a spare $43 million when the state is billions short will not be easy, Longville said. “Neither the state nor the counties have the money right now,” he said. “But just saying the state doesn’t have the money is no reason to charge the local governments for what is clearly a state cost.”

There is no formal opposition to Longville’s bill, but the state’s grim financial picture probably will become a factor affecting its progress.

“We are trying to close a $14-billion gap. We would want to have a look at what all the numbers are and the costs are before we make an evaluation,” said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance.

A spokesman said Schwarzenegger would not discuss Longville’s proposal. But Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said he will support it.

“The counties incurred an extraordinary expense for an unscheduled election,” Shelley said. “They put in overtime to meet the deadlines the courts imposed on them.”

On top of the county’s expenses, the secretary of state spent about $15.7 million on the election, most of the money going to the cost of printing and mailing a voter guide to the state’s electorate. The secretary of state plans to ask the state Department of Finance to reimburse its expenses, said Doug Stone, Shelley’s director of communications.

The California State Assn. of Counties plans to push aggressively for the legislation to reimburse the counties.

“Each county is strapped. This just places another burden on us,” said Jolena Voorhis, a senior legislative analyst with the association. “We’re willing to do our fair share to help the state get through the crisis. But we’ve been doing our fair share for 10 years now.”

There’s little question that counties could use the money. Shasta County, which hopes to be reimbursed $300,000, is under a hiring freeze and plans to lay off 50 healthcare workers, said Ann Reed, the county’s registrar of voters. The county is going to have to dip into reserves to pay for the March 2 primary election, Reed said.

“I don’t know one county that doesn’t feel this is a state obligation,” said Reed, who is president of the California Assn. of Clerks and Election Officials, which also is lobbying the state for reimbursement.

Some county officials doubt the state will repay them.

“There’s no hope,” said Steve Bennett, chairman of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. “It would be the right thing to do, but I have no expectations that it will happen.”

Dupray, from El Dorado County, said the counties could sue the state. “If we had done the elections on our own accord for our own needs, that’s one thing. But when it’s imposed on you by the state, it would be nice if we could get reimbursed for those costs,” he said.

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Payback

California counties want the state to reimburse them for the costs of conducting the Oct. 7 recall election, which is estimated at $59 million.

Costs of Recall Election

For large California counties

*--* County Amount Los Angeles $7.7 million San Diego $3.77 million Santa Clara $3.17 million Alameda $2.6 million Orange $2.1 million Riverside $1.42 million San Mateo $1.3 million Sacramento $1.25 million San Bernardino $1.2 million Fresno $968,912 Ventura $954,000 Statewide* $59 million

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*Estimated

Sources: California State Assn. of Counties; Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties

Times staff writer Lynne Barnes contributed to this report.