Amidst what is now the Great Recession, State diversions of local tax revenue and continuing increases in costs, many local jurisdictions are exploring ways to save money by combining services with other local agencies, outsourcing public services, wholesale elimination of services or some combination thereof.
In San Carlos, the city council there recently put the finishing touches on a major restructuring of city services, outsourcing some services entirely and contracting with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department for police services.
San Carlos is not alone in utilizing the Sheriff’s Department for police services as the Town of Woodside has done so for many years.
By contracting with the Sheriff’s Department, San Carlos officials hope to save over $3 million annually for a contract worth $6.8 million versus the $8.9 million the city spent maintaining its own police force last fiscal year, according to published reports.
In turn, the cities of Burlingame and San Mateo are now studying the potential for merging their respective police departments. Previous studies performed by each police department last fall concluded that the combined savings could be as much as $2.2 million annually for the cities.
In 2004, Burlingame combined its fire service with neighboring Hillsborough in a similar effort to leverage cost efficiencies creating the Central County Fire Authority with success.
In 2003, the communities of Daly City, Pacifica and Brisbane formed the The North County Fire Authority, a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) operated under a single administration for all three communities again with the goal of reducing operational costs.
On October 1, 2007, the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District and Point Montara Fire Protection District consolidated to form a new district called Coastside Fire Protection District. The new district provides fire protection services to coastal communities including the City of Half Moon Bay and the unincorporated communities of Montara, Moss Beach, Princeton, El Granada and Miramar in addition to the surrounding unincorporated areas. In addition to combining two distinct districts into one, in 2008 the newly formed Coastside Fire Protection District’s Governing Board entered into a cooperative agreement with theCalifornia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), a state agency, to supply the management and personnel for the local district.
Both decisions were made to decrease costs, one for administrative efficiencies and the latter for the lesser costs associated with a State contract for services.
Nearly a decade ago, almost all of the local jurisdictions charged with managing ambulance and/or paramedic services including the county, cities and fire districts consolidated ambulance dispatch and services into a single joint powers authority, meaning ambulance and/or paramedic services are no longer confined to city boundaries but are now dictated solely on what service is available and is nearest to a possible medical emergency and dispatched out of a central location..
The City of Millbrae is now looking for a variety of shared service options to also reduce costs.
Recently, the Half Moon Bay Review newspaper suggested that with the departure of that city’s police chief that city officials should also explore contracting out police services to the Sheriff’s Department. Half Moon Bay is struggling financially and has placed a one-cent tax measure on the November ballot, without which some in and outside of the community are wondering aloud dif the City will be able to survive.
Even more recently, it was revealed in the local press that the City of South San Franciscois at least studying the option of outsourcing its fire service operations to Cal Fire as happened on the Coastside. This option is yet to be explored fully and is not likely at present but nonetheless another example of ways local communities are looking to merge services.
In addition to merged services, many cities have also experimented with shared departmental administrators and public safety chiefs.
This is not to say that all mergers have gone well or will ultimately be the right choice.
The obvious example is the South County Fire Authority (SCFA) which service Belmont, San Carlos and the Harbor Industrial Area.
The merged fire department will be dissolved in 2011 as the major partners were never able to agree on a cost sharing scheme that both deemed fair. With the dissolution of the SCFA however, both major partners are in the process of identifying new partners or contractors and neither is particularly interested in taking over the management of a single department.
Driving these mergers is the very real economic and political challenges cities face.
In response, many cities have adopted what are termed two-tiered compensation packages, meaning new public employees across the board will have reduced pay and benefit packages as compared with their predecessors.
In the City of Menlo Park, a signature led initiative on the November 2, 2010 could drastically roll back pension benefits of city employees – with the exception of police – and has ignited a fierce battle. The measure would also require majority voter approval for any future benefit increases.
But what has been left out of the public discussion is wholesale mergers, not piecemeal.
Perhaps it may be time to consider the possibility of combining cities, perhaps even making some services such as police and fire countywide services. Such a proposal would require substantial political fortitude and, for many city and district managers and council people, includes the prospect of ending their own jobs or political tenure.
Perhaps that may be the biggest challenge.
Contact Bruce Balshone at bruce.examiner@gmail.com
Visit Bruce Balshone's Blog Page
Visit Bruce Balshone's Twitter Page
Visit Bruce's Peninsula Examiner Page
0 comments:
Post a Comment