Title
Resolution to Approve New Election Personnel Pay Scales
Memorandum
The attached resolution proposes to raise the various rates of election inspector and other election personnel pay to prepare for the 2024 election cycle. This increase represents an average increase of about $2.00 per hour. City Charter (Section 13.7) states that City Council must set election personnel pay rates and the last time it did so was 2022.
Due to the passage of Proposal 2022-2 last November and the implementation of early voting, the City is facing increased need for election inspectors and other election-related temporary assignments, including satellite office and early vote center personnel and supervisors for the new extended election season beyond the traditional Election Day worker. The Clerk's Office is currently making plans to staff early voting locations for nine consecutive days ending on the Sunday before an election, and up to 40 days of satellite office availability at the University of Michigan, including on Election Day. Early Voting plans for the upcoming Presidential Primary include availability of days, evenings and weekends at the District Library branches.
On Election Day, election inspectors must report for work at 6:00 a.m. and the typical day is about 16 hours long. Due to the challenges with recruitment and the additional cost of training, we generally do not offer split shifts. The chairperson assigned to each precinct must contend with voter registration problems, poll challengers, and provisional ballots, in addition to the regular processing of voters. In busy even-year elections, the stream of voters can be almost non-stop from the opening of the polls at 7:00 a.m. until the closing at 8:00 p.m.
The proposed increases in the City of Ann Arbor election inspector pay rates take into consideration the additional knowledge and skills required to work both the early voting centers and the polls on Election Day and allows the City to remain competiti...
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