OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-254
AN ACT CONCERNING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE RISK-
LIMITING AUDITS WORKING GROUP.
Primary Analyst: TM 4/3/24
Contributing Analyst(s): DD
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Secretary of the State GF - Cost 1,931,400 632,000
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Various Municipalities Cost 50,000 50,000
Explanation
This bill implements risk limiting audits and results in annual costs
to the Secretary of the State (SOTS) of $1.9 million in FY 25 and $632,000
in FY 26 and annually thereafter. Costs of $1,571,400 in FY 25 and
$422,000 in FY 26 are associated with the bill's requirements for SOTS to
provide instructions and materials for risk limiting audits.
This will require a one-time cost to support equipment for
municipalities of $1,379,400
1
in FY 25, as well as an ongoing annual cost
of $192,000 for risk limiting audit software and as part of an amended
agreement with the UCONN voter center. There will be an additional
cost of $230,000 per year beginning in FY 26 associated with ongoing
maintenance and upkeep.
1
This includes the equipment necessary to complete the audits at the local level,
including printing costs. 2024SB-00254-R000248-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
Additionally, it is expected that SOTS will incur costs of $360,000 in
FY 25 and $210,000 in FY 26 to contract with the UConn Voter Center to
assist implementing the bill's provisions. These costs, which are paid by
SOTS but ultimately borne by UConn, are associated with developing
and testing auditing software and processes and conducting the audits.
The bill alters standards of risk limiting audits and results in
additional costs to municipalities. This comes primarily from the
additional cost of labor to complete risk limiting audits. The bill requires
that the officials administering and conducting the risk limiting audit
must be compensated at the municipalities standard rate of pay for
electors. The extent of the cost depends on the requirements of the risk
limiting audits, the number of them conducted and the level of
compensation for the election officials within each municipality is
estimated at approximately $50,000 per year
2
.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation.
2
The estimated cost for election labor for two officials per town working six hours at
the existing hourly rate is anticipate at $49,961.90.