A Three Minute Opinion to Council Regarding a Study of Police Costs.
see also ANALYSIS OF POLICE SERVICES IN-HOUSE AND CONTRACT SERVICE MODELS
Cost comparisons done by Mr. Conway showed that compared to other municipal police departments, Los Gatos compares favorably on a cost basis.
Though I could not find any minutes nor a video on this portion of that council meeting to verify what I’m saying, what seemed to be missing was a comparison of the our police costs to that of the sheriff. Mr. Conway did point out that the town of Saratoga, who uses the sheriff, had costs significantly less than ours. I think the reason was given that they operate differently. This might be something we need to evaluate if they cost that much less.
Note that in the additional questions of staff asked by the council for this meeting, questions were asked and answers are forthcoming to find ways to increase revenues: (see your questions 7 and 8 which both are seeking an increase in revenues to cover costs).
However, when you’re fixing the deficits in budgets, the fastest fix comes from cutting costs, not increasing revenues. In most cases, when you increase revenues, those revenues also require that you increase the costs to gain those revenues. And if the margins aren’t VERY significant, it will take years for those margins to cover the costs of needed capital improvements. Barring an increase in taxes, Increasing revenue means more projects and more projects will mean more traffic and more students if the project includes housing.
Los Gatos has long used the county fire department and I think most of us have a very high opinion of their services. Consolidation of services is not a bad thing. You’re seeing consolidation happen every day in the business world where companies merge to maximize products and services while minimizing administrative and general operating expenses. In my opinion, government services should adapt best practices of private enterprise if they fit.
Consolidation might be one to look at.
I don’t know enough yet to advocate keeping our police department or going with the sheriff. But you nor anyone in the town knows because we don’t have enough information. Long ago, I believe Mr. Shepardson advocated having a presentation by the sheriff’s office for starters. I don’t believe anything has been done yet. But I also respect how incredibly busy everyone has been.
It may be an eye opener, or an eye closer, but right now, we’re all blind to the facts. I would urge you to have the sheriff do the presentation, and then, should it indicate a significant savings, set money in the current budget now to do a cost comparison on an apples to apples basis later in the year. This cannot and should not be a quick decision.
Though our operating budget may be balanced or even run a small surplus, we are doing that by sacrificing many needed repairs and fixes for this town that are kicked continually down the road.
Jak VanNada
Leave a Reply