Cost is not the only thing to consider when Deschutes County voters choose in the November election whether or not to add two commissioners to the Deschutes County Commission.

It is worth a look.

A reader asked us what the additional commissioners would cost county government. We asked county government. County staff researched it and we have some numbers.

The total estimated cost for the first year would be $774,847. In subsequent years, it would drop. Some transitional costs would not need to be repeated.

The ongoing cost would be about $538,603, initially. That doesn’t include things that can be counted on to lead to future increases, such as cost of living adjustments, health care costs and the state retirement benefits.

That $538,603 is, of course, a half a million dollars. But it is a teeny fraction of the county’s overall budget. It is about .11% of the county’s overall operating budget.

Most of the costs would be in salary and benefits — about $400,000 a year with another some $20,502 for travel, subscriptions, office supplies and so on. There is another sizable chunk for what is called in county government “internal service funds.” That’s an accounting of the way county government costs are allocated from one part of county government to another.

In the first year, the offices at the county would get some remodeling and some new purchases would be made for computers, phones and furniture. The remodeling is estimated to cost more than $140,000.

Would the county need to cut other services to be able to provide the salaries, benefits and other things for the two new positions?

“We do not anticipate any cuts to services at this time. However, the outcome of this ballot measure and the ranked choice voting ballot measure, among other increased costs will impact our fiscal year 2026 budget,” the county told us.

So do these costs mean you should vote yes or no on the ballot measure? We aren’t going to tell you how to vote. The financial cost is just one factor to weigh alongside many others that may weigh more heavily for you.