The switch could save the village $1,200 to $1,500.
Camillus, NY -- Camillus has become the first village in Onondaga County to switch its local elections from March to November, effective next year.
The village board voted earlier this month to make the change. Mayor Michael Montero said the change means village offices normally up for election in March 2011 will have their term of office extended and be on the ballot in November of next year. Officials elected that November will take office on Jan. 1.
The decision to switch dates came from a suggestion by county Elections Commissioner Helen Kiggins, who lives in the village of Camillus. The change could save the village the $1,200 to $1,500 it costs to hold a separate village election, she said, noting that the cost of separate village elections will go up now that the county has switched to optical-scan voting machines.
“This is an easy thing to do without causing a lot of problems for people,” she said.
Kiggins said village residents could file petitions to force a public vote on the switch.
Montero also said the village will also switch the start of its fiscal year from July 1 to Jan. 1. He said the village board will begin work this fall on a new budget, which would go into effect on New Year’s Day.
Although Kiggins admitted raising the election issue recently with the Camillus board, she said county legislature Chairman James Rhinehart suggested that villages change their election date during the debate earlier this year over a new sales tax revenue-sharing agreement negotiated by the county and the city of Syracuse.
Kiggins said Camillus was able change the election date because all of the voting districts affected by the change are within village borders. The villages of Tully and Fayetteville could also make the change immediately, she said.
Villages with voting districts that overlap village boundaries, such as Baldwinsvile, can’t make the switch until voting district boundaries are redrawn to keep districts within the village.
“I’m sure we can make it work,” Kiggins said.
Voting district won’t be redrawn until after 2010 Census figures are finalized next year, she said.
Minoa Mayor Richard Donovan, who is also president of the county mayors association, said he will bring the issue up at the association’s next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 15.
Reach John Stith at jstith@syracuse.com or at 251-5718.