Pinellas budget cut might mean pricier voting machines

By LISA GREENE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 30, 2001

Pinellas County ultimately could pay hundreds of thousands of dollars extra to finance new voting machines because commissioners decided late Tuesday to slash the amount they will spend on them next year.

Chopping $8.3-million for voting machines from next year's budget won't keep the county from choosing the best machines for Pinellas, some commissioners said Wednesday.

"I don't think it has to determine what route we take," said Commissioner Ken Welch, who suggested the cut. "First we have to decide what the best system is. Then we have to decide what's the best way to pay for it."

But dissenters said they fear the cut could force them to buy cheaper optical scan machines instead of a newer, costlier touch-screen system.

"I'm just very concerned that we've now made a decision about how much money we can spend," said Commissioner Susan Latvala, who joined commissioners Bob Stewart and Barbara Sheen Todd in voting against the cut. Commissioners voted 4-3 to make the cut in an attempt to trim a property tax rate increase.

Todd said commissioners don't know enough about the cost of the new system to start cutting the pool of money available for it.

"I don't like to make decisions without all the facts," she said.

Welch said the touch screens don't have enough of a track record, while Todd said the optical scanners, in which voters color in an oval on a paper ballot, have had high error rates in some Florida counties.

The county has asked companies to submit bids for both types of machines. A committee will evaluate the bids and recommend one to commissioners for an October vote.

Commissioners had set aside $15-million to buy the state-mandated new machines after getting estimates of $14-million to $21-million for touch-screen machines or about $3.4-million for optical scanners.

Last week, the board cut the figure in next year's budget to $12-million. On Tuesday, commissioners cut it to $10-million, then again to $6.7-million.

Latvala said she's worried that the county may not be able to issue bonds or do other financing in time to get the touch-screen machines. The state has told 41 Florida counties they must have new machines before the September 2002 primaries, and Pinellas officials want to have enough machines by March to test them in smaller municipal elections.

But companies can be flexible about financing, elections officials and one of the largest machine vendors said Wednesday.

"We are open to almost anything in helping a customer finance, and we tell all the companies that," said Kathryn Ferguson, spokeswoman for Sequoia Voting Systems. Deborah Clark, Pinellas elections supervisor, and Pam Iorio, Hillsborough elections supervisor, said other companies might be willing to finance machine purchases. Both counties are asking companies who submit bids to provide financing information.

Still, those companies are likely to charge more if the machines are financed, Iorio said. And Todd said she's worried that the county has cut its bargaining power.

"When you have the money to put on the table, you have a little more leverage in negotiating cost," she said.

The county also could borrow from a bank, said Mark Woodard, county budget director. Some local banks already have said they're interested in financing. But that, too, comes with a price tag.

Say the machines cost $15-million. The county would pay $6.7-million and have $8.3-million left to finance. At a hypothetical tax-exempt interest rate of 3.7 percent, the county would pay $464,000 in interest charges to finance the cost for two years and $623,000 to finance it for three, Woodard said.

Welch said the county should consider leasing machines or buying the cheaper optical scans now, then buying touch screens four or five years from now.

"Let somebody else jump out there on the 'bleeding edge,' " he said. "And then after the problems are fixed, we move to it."

Other commissioners said that's too expensive.

"Whatever we buy will be our system for some time," said Chairman Calvin Harris. "It's too big a purchase."

Across the bay, Hillsborough already has decided on touch screens and has set aside $12-million. Iorio said the system eliminates voter errors, is more accessible to the disabled and is more flexible than the optical scans.

"We are in a unique situation, and we have to recognize that," she said. "We can't afford to sit around and wait for some better technology."

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