Proposed bylaws change on tap for Annual Business Meeting in July

Proposed NACo bylaws change would affect number of votes a county receives, not NACo dues

At the 2016 Annual Business meeting, action was deferred on one proposed bylaws change until 2017. The proposed bylaws change, first recommended by NACo’s Board of Directors in 2015, affects the NACo voting formula for counties that vote at the Annual Business meeting.

This update would account for changes in population across the country in recent decades, and aims to maintain a balance within and across the association.

What does this all mean? Right now, each county gets a certain number of votes for the Annual Business Meeting to use for policy resolutions, national officers, bylaws and changes to the American County Platform. The number of votes each county receives is determined by its NACo dues – dues are calculated based on population. This change will affect only the number of votes a county receives and will not change NACo dues.

Currently, counties receive one vote for every $500 — or fraction thereof — in dues paid by the county. For example, a county that pays $650 in dues receives two votes for the Annual Business Meeting. Under the new proposed formula, member counties would receive one vote for every $1,200 in dues paid by the county. If passed, this change will go into effect for 2018. 

Think of this change as altering the number of slices in a pie. Currently, there is one big pie and it is cut into over 9,000 pieces — so each slice is pretty small. Under the proposed formula change, take that same single pie and cut it into just over 5,000 pieces — so each slice is a little bigger. Counties may only receive one slice now instead of two, but the single slice is actually bigger than the previous two combined.

NACo has uploaded a one-page summary and explanation of the proposed formula change to the NACo website. You can find it at www.naco.org/governance under the Bylaws tab. The proposed bylaws change to the weighted vote formula will come before the NACo Membership during the Annual Business Meeting, Monday, July 24. Please contact Jamie Richards at 202.942.4258 or jrichards@naco.org with any questions.