Lake Forest's Budget - Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the overall budget outlook. Today we’ll be looking at specific categories of expenses. I’ll begin with the City Council and then look at Police Services.

CITY COUNCIL (Pages 37-42)

The budget proposes to spend $144,200 on the City Council. The major expense is “Membership and Dues” at $60,700 which goes mainly to the two major state-wide organizations – the League of California Cities ($20,000) and the Association of California Cities ($16,000). For our dues we get continuing education to individual members and lobbying on behalf of the City as well as access to an enormous database. Upon extensive inquiry I’m convinced that these high payments are necessary and that the membership actually saves us money by giving us access to information that would otherwise consume large amounts of staff time. There is another $24,000 that I am not so sure we should be spending nor is there any explanation in the staff report as to why we need to be spending this amount.

$35,700 goes to pay for the Personnel costs of the Council. This appears to be an annual salary of $6,760 per Council member. FWIW – I take home about $3 per hour, and Mr. Nick does not take home anything.

There is another $27,300 in travel and conference expenses, and this appears excessive.

The City also spends $10,000 for the Council members to enter their State mandated forms electronically. I objected to his payment in the past and suggested that we continue to do it on paper, given the costs, but no one listened to me and so we have it.

There are several other categories like “Computer Maintenance and Supply” ($10,000) and “Special Supplies” ($7,000) that appear, on first impression, excessive. Let’s see how the staff explain this at the meeting.

POLICE SERVICES (Pages 178-186)

In 2013-14 we spent $13.1M on Police Services. In 2015-6 we propose to spend $15.3M with no change in personnel. The vast majority of these expenses go for the contract with the OC Sheriff’s Department (OCSD). In FY 2013-14 we spent $12.3M and in FY 2015-6 the number will increase to $14.2M.

OCSD provides –

• · 1 Lieutenant (Chief)
• · 3.5 Patrol Sergeants
• · 31 Patrol officers
• · 4 Investigators
• · 3 Motorcycle Deputies
• · 1 Traffic Enforcement Officer
• · 5 Community Services Officers (e.g., Homeless, Schools)
• · 3 Crime Prevention Officers
• · 2 Administrators
• · 14.25 Support Personnel

Apart from the OCSD contract, under the Police budget we also pay for

• · Crossing Guards at Schools - $275,000
• · Animal Care - $260,400
• · County 800 Megahertz Communication - $170,300
• · Public Safety Manager - $83,400

We also have various programs (total = $70,300) such as

• · Child safety - $17,100
• · STARS - $6,000
• · Trauma intervention - $9,000
• · Identity Theft Prevention - $8000

It’s nearly impossible to talk about the budget given the information available in the staff report. For example, the report indicates that the Police gave 30 “Neighborhood Watch” presentations but there is no indication of what impact these presentations had. Did crime go down as a result? Similarly, “Business Watch” projects 300 participants, but is the crime rate for these businesses up or down compared to businesses that are not part of Business Watch. Etc. etc.

More importantly, are our resources deployed in an appropriate manner? A recent report of Police Services in Laguna Hills indicated that hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved by looking at manpower deployment. Do we need a highly trained Police Sergeant standing around at the back of the Council room 10 hours a month? Do we need a full-time Homeless Liaison Officer or should we be looking at Social Service agencies to pick up the slack in this area?

I’m going to suggest that we establish an Ad Hoc Public Safety Advisory group consisting of 2 Council members and a senior Police staff member to go through the Police budget and look for ways in which we can reduce costs while keeping the quality of the service the same, or better.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on May 16 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.