Who Must Report Campaign Related Financial Information?
There are three main types of people or organizations that are required to follow campaign finance law regarding municipal elections.
- Candidate or Candidate Committee – A candidate committee is formed by a candidate to assist in their effort to get elected. For the purposes of Campaign Finance reporting, candidates and candidate committees are treated equally and will be referred to as candidates throughout the remainder of this FAQ.
- Political Committee – A political committee is an organization, separate from the candidates themselves, whose goal is to either assist in getting a person or group of persons elected or to prevent a person or group of persons from getting elected.
- Issue Committee – An issue committee is an organization whose goal is to either assist in getting an issue on the ballot passed or to prevent an issue on the ballot from getting passed.
- Small Issue Committee – A Small Issue Committee is a classification of issue committee that has a smaller amount of contributions or expenditures. Their reporting requirements are based on the total contributions or expenditures for an election cycle and those reporting requirements may change mid-cycle if specific requirements are met.
April 4, 2023 Municipal Election
The campaign finance cycle for the April 4, 2023 election begins on October 1, 2022 and runs through May 4, 2023. Once a candidate raises or spends $20 or more towards their campaign, they must start filing campaign finance reports. Elected positions involved in the April 4, 2023 General Municipal Election are the Mayor and three At-Large City Council District seats. Candidate filing packets will be available beginning on the first work day in January 2023. The City Clerk is the designated election official and will be conducting this election.
