SD5 - Compensation of General Registrars

  • Published: 1992
  • Author: Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 167 (Regular Session, 1991)

Executive Summary:
Senate Joint Resolution 167 of the 1991 Session directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to review the methods for compensating general registrars. The General Assembly specifically requested an evaluation of the compensation program for general registrars, factors which should be used to determine the compensation for general registrars, and the appropriate State share of the costs of compensating general registrars. In keeping with the mandate, the study was focused on the compensation of general registrars as opposed to the overall organization and administration of voter registration in Virginia.

The Constitution of Virginia gives the General Assembly responsibility for voter registration and elections administration. The General Assembly created the State Board of Elections in 1950 to execute these responsibilities. The State Board coordinates elections administration and voter registration through local electoral boards and general registrars. Local electoral boards appoint general registrars to four-year terms. General registrars administer voter registration in Virginia's 136 cities and counties. There are 109 full-time and 27 part-time general registrars.

The Commonwealth and the localities share the costs of compensating general registrars. The State provides the base salary, which is set according to local population levels. The localities provide social security contributions and, at their option, health insurance, life insurance, and retirement benefits. The localities may also provide a salary supplement of up to ten percent of the general registrar's base salary. The General Assembly appropriated over $3.5 million in general funds for general registrar compensation in FY 1991.

The primary function of general registrars is to administer voter registration services in the localities. Each general registrar administers a central office of voter registration. Their primary statutory tasks include registering voters, transferring registration applications to the appropriate locality, purging or deleting ineligible voters, processing absentee voter applications and ballots, and administering outside registration sites. A number of general registrars also report that they are highly involved in planning and administering elections in addition to voter registration. This activity was not classified as a primary function for the purpose of this study because there is no clear statutory mandate for general registrars to be extensively involved in election administration.

Some General Registrars Might Work More Hours Than Necessary

The normal days of service for part-time general registrars are set in the Appropriation Act. These individuals work part-time during January through July, and full-time during August through December. Effective in FY 1990, part-time general registrars were required to increase their normal days of service during January through July. This change affected 72 general registrars in FY 1991, at an estimated cost to the Commonwealth of $359,997.

Several general registrars reported on the JLARC survey that their workload was too light to justify the added work days. The JLARC staff analysis shows that the increase in work days might not have been cost-effective for a number of the affected localities. Although the general registrars were available to the public a greater number of days, registration activity in the 72 affected localities did not increase overall. Registration activity actually declined in 21 of the 72 affected localities. In view of these findings, the increased cost of salaries for general registrars in certain localities is a concern. A key question is whether the cost of the increase in normal days of service is justified by the increase in availability, regardless of actual registration activity.

General Registrar Salaries Are Generally Adequate, But Some Restructuring of Salaries Is Needed

To evaluate the adequacy of the base salaries, it was first necessary to: (1) establish appropriate factors or workload indicators for determining compensation, and (2) establish an equitable mechanism for differentiating between levels of workload. A number of potential factors for determining compensation were evaluated against specific criteria. Based on this analysis, local population and job experience were identified as appropriate factors for determining compensation.

Under the existing compensation structure, population brackets are the mechanism for differentiating between levels of workload and salary. To evaluate the existing population bracket structure, an analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which the six population brackets actually differentiate between levels of workload. It was found that the brackets generally do differentiate between levels of workload, but equity could be enhanced by adding an additional population bracket at 500,000. The bracket structure could also be simplified by adding a separate population bracket for part-time general registrars, ranging from 0 to 9,999. The result is a revised population bracket structure consisting of eight brackets.

Based on this revised structure, general registrar salaries were compared to salaries for other positions with comparable job responsibilities. Comparable positions were identified through an analysis of job characteristics for voter registration administrators in other states, the five Article VII constitutional officers, and a number of State classified positions. It was found that neither voter registration administrators in other states nor the Article VII constitutional officers are sufficiently comparable to general registrars. However, certain State positions do have responsibilities similar to those of general registrars.

The analysis of compensation showed that general registrar salaries are generally adequate in relation to the salaries for the comparable State classified positions. This finding raises the possibility of basing general registrar salaries on the State salary system of job grades and steps in order to recognize job experience in determining compensation. This could be done by replacing the existing salary structure with a new system which would assign State job grades to the eight proposed population brackets. The cost of this option, as well as its impact on individual general registrars, is reviewed in Chapter III of this report.

Recommendation. The General Assembly may wish to consider revising the State salary structure for general registrars by: (1) creating a separate population bracket for localities with population below 10,000, (2) creating a separate population bracket for localities with population above 500,000, (3) maintaining all other existing population brackets, and (4) establishing uniform salary scales which recognize job experience, and which are based on comparable State Job grades.

Some Full-Time General Registrars Do Not Have Access To Fringe Benefits

Fringe benefits. including health insurance, life insurance, and retirement plans, may be provided to general registrars at the option of local governing bodies. All full-time State employees have access to these fringe benefits. Most, but not all local governments with full-time general registrars have provided their general registrars with access to local fringe benefit programs. If the General Assembly wishes to ensure that all full-time general registrars have access to fringe benefits, it could consider: (1) requiring all localities to provide general registrars with the same fringe benefit program provided for other local employees, or (2) making State employee benefits available to general registrars. The cost of these options is presented in Chapter III.

Recommendation. The General Assembly may wish to consider requiring that all full-time general registrars have access to employer-provided health Insurance, life Insurance, and retirement benefits. Two options could be considered: (1) requiring localities to provide the same fringe benefits as provided to other local employees, or (2) providing general registrars with access to State benefits.

The Existing Limit on Local salary Supplements Appears to Be Reasonable

Local salary supplements for general registrars are optional, and restricted to ten percent of the base salary. An analysis was conducted to determine whether localities have sufficient flexibility to make general registrar salaries comparable to local salary scales. Based on this analysis, the existing limit on local salary supplements appears to be reasonable, although some general registrars believe the limit is unfair because there are no limits placed on local supplements for Article VII constitutional officers.

The General Assembly Could Consider A Range Of Options In Deciding The Appropriate State Share of General Registrar Compensation

The Commonwealth currently provides the majority share of general registrar compensation. This is unusual compared to other states, in which compensation of voter registration administrators is typically a local responsibility. The General Assembly could choose from a range of options in deciding the appropriate State share. For this report, four options were evaluated, including the existing State share policy (see the brief comparison of options on page iv of the report). Chapter IV provides a detailed analysis of each option.