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0 votes
We are a very small parish council of 7 members with an electorate just on the cusp of 150. We are looking at our forthcoming budget, which has a EMR of £4k for election costs. Is this realistic or over the top? If realistic, what can be done by either councillors or members of the parish to reduce these costs?
by (500 points)

3 Answers

0 votes
Is it all one slate or different Wards ? Personally I’d ask the Borough Council for an estimate and base the reserve on that

My own PC includes election costs as expenditure every single year as a way of padding the figures out despite having a general reserve in the region of £300,000 and only ever having one election in one Ward in the last 30 odd years !
by (12.6k points)
0 votes
Our elections office are happy to provide an estimate for the cost of an election at a time other than when the full district elections take place.  It is horrifyingly expensive!  At the last count, we were quoted something in the region of £7,500 but that was a couple of years ago and that's per election so if just one person resigns or leaves and there's a call for an election, that's what they propose charging.  God forbid if more than one resigns at a separate time and there's a call for another election!  However, we do have an electorate of 3,000!  For an uncontested election (but note, election not co-option) it's £500.  I think it depends on your principal authority.
by (22.0k points)
0 votes
I would agree that you get a quote from your Elections Office as a steer but bear in mind that at any time a councillor resigns, then someone can call a by-election so this could happen on multiple occasions in the same year.  Of course, that is if you have someone wanting to cause maximum grief to the parish council at a cost to the electorate.

On a separate note - it is amazing that you have 7 Councillors for a 150 electorate - we have 15 Councillors for 4800....
by (25.2k points)

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