# Cities Rent Police, Janitors to Save Cash



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Published July 19, 2010
| The Wall Street Journal

Faced with a $118 million budget deficit, the city of San Jose, Calif., recently decided it could no longer afford its own janitors. So the city's budget called for dropping its custodial staff and hiring outside contractors to clean its city hall and airport, saving about $4 million.
To keep all its swimming pools open and staffed, the city is replacing some city workers with contractors.
"These are cases where the question is being asked, 'Is this a core service at the city level?' " said Michelle McGurk, senior policy adviser to the San Jose mayor.
After years of whittling staff and cutting back on services, towns and cities are now outsourcing some of the most basic functions of local government, from policing to trash collection. Services that cities can no longer afford to provide are being contracted to private vendors, counties or even neighboring towns.
The move saves cities budget-crushing costs of employee benefits like health insurance and retirement. Critics say contracting means giving up local control and personalized services.

Cities say they have little choice. Municipalities across the U.S. will face a projected shortfall of $56 to $86 billion between 2010 and 2012, according to a report from the National League of Cities.
"You can do across-the-board cuts for only so long," said Andrew Belknap, Western Regional Vice President for Management Partners, a government consulting group. "It's gone from the tactical cost cutting to get through a recession, to in some cases saying we have to exit that business or service altogether."
Maywood, a tiny city southeast of Los Angeles, is taking contracting to the extreme. The city of around 40,000 is letting go of its entire staff and contracting with outsiders to perform all city services. The city is disbanding its police force and handing public safety over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff. Its neighbor, the city of Bell, will take over running Maywood's City Hall.

*Continue reading at The Wall Street Journal*


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## jettsixx (Dec 10, 2005)

Why not use prisoners for the janitorial work and save even more?


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

jettsixx said:


> Why not use prisoners for the janitorial work and save even more?


Why not use the judges, lawyers & politicians do the janitorial work? They really good at slinging bull shit, they might not be half bad at cleaning it up.


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

What I don't understand is how they always screw over the working people. A lot of these janitor types are solid intelligent good people a lot are vets (using the janitors from the local school district as an example).

Sad.. more then likely these contractors are illegals anyway.

The writing is on the wall.. More and more non english speaking people who do not appreciate this country are coming in.


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## jedediah1 (Jun 18, 2009)

right...how can you save money contracting, when you now have a company in the middle trying to turn a profit? it makes no sense


it's the damn flagger thing all over again


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

jedediah1 said:


> right...how can you save money contracting, when you now have a company in the middle trying to turn a profit? it makes no sense
> 
> it's the damn flagger thing all over again


The problem is that the powers that be just don't care & are completely lacking in management experience. I'm not talking about upper management experience. I'm talking about the people in the middle. The hiring managers & the department managers. Those are the people who know that if you hire a contractor for $15 an hour you are paying $25-30 an hour to the agency that employs them. The same goes for temps. When a temp employee or contractor is hired as a permanent employee the company they are working at ends up saving money.


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## Lost (Dec 19, 2006)

jedediah1 said:


> right...how can you save money contracting, when you now have a company in the middle trying to turn a profit? it makes no sense
> 
> it's the damn flagger thing all over again


Sort of, but not really. They are contracted with the Sheriff.

In many states, county prosecutors, sheriffs and local authorities handle complex cases (e.g. murders). In Mass, complex and manpower intensive work has been taken over by the MSP. People (yes, I know counties are essentially non-existant) have been willing to surrender local control to a larger agency because, for the most part, they can perform the operations with lower overhead, more expertise, equipment and personnel. Is one better than the other?

Perhaps the better example are the small towns to the north of Mass. These agencies contract with local sheriffs or state PD's to provide local services. In some instances, towns will pay extra for a dedicated patrol. Does that mean they need the whole admin, equipment and benefits structure? Consider a town of 2000 people, with 3 crimes a year (fictional). The town pays for 1 deputy/trooper 24/7/365, and he has backup from his department. The town also benefits from more specialized services provided by a larger agency. A municipal PD would have to pay for enough staff to cover all the shifts. Usually, we would all cry foul if there was not more than 1 officer per shift. Now you start looking at a Chief, admin, dispatch costs, benefits, equipment+maintenance. As costs rise, the PD will have to turn to P/T officers. I mean no offense, but if I called the police, I'd rather have a F/T officer attend to my problem than a P/T officer, especially if the F/T is cheaper.

Just so long as the officers who wish to stay get an equivalent spot with the PD instead of a layoff, I think it sometimes makes sense.


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## Lost (Dec 19, 2006)

mtc said:


> Please advise which MA towns contract with the Sheriffs for police protection.


Whichever Ma towns are located north of the northern Mass border.:yellowcarded:

Sorry I wasn't more specific. When I said North of Mass I meant rural areas in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.


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## jedediah1 (Jun 18, 2009)

:wavespin: i was talking more janitor than officer... hahahaha, sorry


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## 263FPD (Oct 29, 2004)

jedediah1 said:


> :wavespin: i was talking more janitor than officer... hahahaha, sorry


Must I point out that lately, being a Cop has been pretty much like being a Janitor, other then the fact that the trash we pick up, can walk and talk (most of the time):banghead:


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## EnforceOfficer (Jun 1, 2010)

I hope LASD picks up all the City's Police Dept. Officers and support personnel, and the LA County Code Enforcement picks up the City's Code Officers...


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## NorwichAlum (Nov 5, 2005)

Maywood PD's last broadcast.....

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxf1fzmIeKs"]YouTube- Maywood, Ca Police - final radio transmission 6-30-10[/nomedia]


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## EnforceOfficer (Jun 1, 2010)

NorwichAlum said:


> Maywood PD's last broadcast.....
> 
> YouTube- Maywood, Ca Police - final radio transmission 6-30-10


I felt bad listening to that...


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

This I hope never happens in MA. I have a sick feeling it is coming though to some of the departments that barely exist to begin with.. 

It makes me wonder if there ever was a time where Police Departments were fully staffed and adding officers. Expanding like a business does..

I think this has to do with moon bat politics and people having their heads up their asses.

They think dialing 911 will get them instant services.. They will pay for a new library and more schools but won't pay more for adequate Police and Fire.

I love the towns that have more of an elderly population who don't buy this crap that they need more schools and vote it down everytime. Meanwhile the Police Departments and Fire Departments aren't doing perfect but doing a lot better then they would in other towns.

If only more people would go too the town meetings and vote... 

Imagine that.. If schools weren't so expensive.. Every year they want so much money.. The town can't even predict how much they want along with incoming state aid.


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## Lost (Dec 19, 2006)

rg1283 said:


> This I hope never happens in MA. I have a sick feeling it is coming though to some of the departments that barely exist to begin with..
> 
> It makes me wonder if there ever was a time where Police Departments were fully staffed and adding officers. Expanding like a business does..


Here's where I disagree with you- hypothetically. If all the officers are picked up by a progressive, full time agency with better pay, aren't they better off?

I could never work alone on a shift, hoping a neighboring town is listening to my transmissions on a different channel when the stuff goes down. How well are towns served when they refuse to merge into a larger agency, instead running with 2 f/ters and 4 p/ters. I mean no disrespect to anyone in one of these departments.

The problem is that these arrangements are a ticking time bomb. Your department is collapsed into a regional department to save money, not for your safety or better service. Therefore, when the art program and the elementary school needs more money, guess where it's coming from. That's right, your regional PD. Fast forward 10 years and you have 2 officers patrolling 18 towns.

Just my .02.


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## cj3441 (Oct 14, 2004)

The problem is that these towns will be able to save long term money, even if they pay a hefty hourly wage to the contractor. Think about the cost of an employee, 401k programs/pension, education incentives, and let's not forget health care which thanks to the oval office is going to break the backs of business all over this country. This economic situation has brought out a convenient excuse to minimize our work and reduce our pay, of course I would like to see who some of these "contract cops" are who are now showing up to your door at zero dark thirty.


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