Commissioners approve monthly expenditures; clerk outlines election support cost-savings

The Clare County board recorded several routine financial actions and heard updates on election support costs and delinquent-tax settlement.

Expenditures: The board approved a motion to pay monthly expenditures for February 2024 totaling $3,602,151.13, with general-fund expenditures of $1,111,011.08. A roll call vote was taken and the motion passed; the transcript records multiple "Yes" responses from members.

Elections: The county clerk (speaker 4) explained that early voting ran nine days and that vendor support for early voting can cost $2,000 per day for an on-call contract with Election Source or $300 per hour for hourly coverage. To reduce cost this cycle, the clerk did not purchase full-day vendor coverage and instead relied on lower-cost fallbacks (a second tabulator provided via state grant and potential hand-count procedures in exceptional circumstances). The clerk also described a change in mailing strategy to avoid repeated per-election mailings that would cost approximately $34,000 per election; instead, the county will rely on newspaper, social media and public notices and explore lower-cost mailing options in the future.

Delinquent taxes: The treasurer (speaker 9) reported the county reconciled roughly $53 million in expected tax collections; of that, approximately $5.4 million was delinquent and will be purchased/advanced to taxing units so they can operate. Since March 1 the office had collected about $350,000 of the delinquent total. The treasurer said about 160 of the 2021-year parcels remain in danger of foreclosure and scheduled a show-cause hearing for March 26 to address foreclosure timelines and payment-agreement options.

Why it matters: The expenditures vote authorizes current county operations; the clerk’s election-cost decisions affect contingency planning and potential vendor-response times on election day; the delinquent-tax process affects local taxing units’ cash flow and foreclosure timing for affected property owners.

Next steps: The clerk will finalize per-person early-voting cost figures and report back; the treasurer will proceed with forfeiture filings and the scheduled show-cause hearing; the board will continue to monitor budget scenarios ahead of union negotiations and projected health-insurance and retirement cost increases.