It remains to be seen how much candidates spent on their 2018 election campaigns, but we do know how much it cost the city to put on the election.
Jacque Killawee, the City of New Westminster’s city clerk and chief election officer, said the city spent a total of $269,850 on the 2018 civic election.
Here’s the breakdown of those costs:electronic voting books, tabulators, location rental, contracted services and supplies – $156,595; labour – $94,373; advertising (including design costs and printing) - $13,847;statutory notices – $3,178; and general supplies – $1,857.
According to Killawee, the labour costs include staff who worked on election day and at advance voting, as well as a five-month election assistant position and overtime for union staff who worked on election days (mainly on Oct. 20). Salaries of Killawee, who supervised the election on top of her other city responsibilities, and Philip Lo, a council/committee clerk who served as the city’s deputy chief election officer, aren’t included in the tally of election costs.
And just how do New Westminster’s election costs compare to some of the neighbouring municipalities?
According to figures released to The Tri-City News, Coquitlam spent $307,000, which included: electronic voting books, tabulators, project management, support and supplies ($157,100); labour ($126,200); voter card mail outs ($6,000); a Get Out The Vote public relations drive ($6,000); general supplies ($5,000); and legally required newspaper ads in local publications ($3,500).
Port Coquitlam spent $80,731, while Port Moody’s unofficial cost for holding municipal and school board elections and asking a referendum question of its citizens was $91,492.
As for the candidates’ costs of running election campaigns, those numbers should be known within a few weeks. The deadline for candidates to file their campaign financing disclosure statements with Elections BC is Jan. 18.
With files from Tri-City News
