The Linn clerk's decision may raise the cost of filing a proposed taxing district

By Hasso Hering

Albany Democrat-Herald

Linn County Clerk Steve Druckenmiller has increased the number of voting precincts, and this may complicate a private group's efforts to establish a library district.

The clerk, though, says, the two issues are not connected.

In an interview last week, Druckenmiller said that on Jan. 31 he raised the number of precincts from 51 to 78 in order to speed up the counting of ballots on election nights.

Linn used to have about 80 precincts, but when voting by mail only became the law in the 1990s, he reduced the number.

This turned out to be a mistake, he says, because of the way ballots are checked and counted. The smaller number made for larger precincts, and when a precinct's vote count had to be rechecked, it took longer the bigger the precinct was.

Though voters will have to be notified, the change now is mainly internal because precincts no longer are linked with polling places.

It will, however, affect the sponsors of a prospective initiative to form a Linn County library taxing district.

State law requires sponsors of local measures to make a deposit per precinct toward the cost of the election. They get the money back if their measure makes the ballot and the voters approve.

In Linn County, the deposit requirement, set by the county commissioners, is $100 per precinct. And the change in precinct number raises the deposit required from $5,000 to $7,800.

"We have no money," said Linda Ziedrich of the Linn Library League, the group promoting the library district. "We haven't even set up a PAC yet."

The group has been asking city councils in Linn County to agree to become part of the district. Six have said yes; Brownsville said no and Albany is still considering the issue, wondering about the effect of a new taxing district on its own tax revenue and budget.

Ziedrich said the library group may ask the county commissioners to lower the deposit requirement in view of the change in precincts.

The Linn County Extension Association, which also is proposing a new tax district, escaped the added cost.

Druckenmiller said the Extension supporters wrote the county a check for $5,100 last Nov. 28, more than a month before the precinct change.

Asked about the difference in deposits required for the same election, the general election that ends Nov. 4, the clerk said it couldn't be helped: Any precinct change had to be done by Jan. 31, and one group filed before that date and another plans to file later.

The library group has not yet filed its measure. It needs Albany's decision before settling on the proposed district boundaries.

Linn County last week had more than 58,000 registered voters, and the number in each precinct ranged from 33 to 1,894.