http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/sheriffs-dept-to-patrol-maywood-while-city-employees-now-face-lay-offs.htmlThe city of Maywood will lay off all city employees and begin contracting police services with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department effective July 1, officials said.
In addition to contracting with the Sheriff's Department, the Maywood City Council voted unanimously Monday night to lay off an estimated 100 employees and contract with neighboring Bell, which will handle other city services such as finance, records management, parks and recreation, street maintenance and others. Maywood will be billed about $50,833 monthly, which officials said will save $164,375 annually.
"We will become 100% a contracted city," said Angela Spaccia, Maywood's interim city manager.
Deputies from the East Los Angeles Sheriff's Station will begin patrolling the 1.2-square-mile city by the end of the month, said Capt. Bruce Fogarty of the Sheriff's Contract Law Enforcement Bureau. The annual cost of providing those services for the small city is estimated at $3.6 million, Fogarty said.
At a council meeting Monday night, city leaders said they were forced to dismantle the Police Department and lay off city workers because they lost insurance coverage as a result of excessive police claims filed against the department. They also blamed years of financial abuse and corruption from the previous council.
"We're limited on our choices and limited on what we can do," Councilman Felipe Aguirre told the standing- room-only crowd.
Frustrated and enraged residents blame the council for the city's predicament, and for not following an insurance agency's recommendations, which council members had agreed to last August. The recommendations included hiring a permanent city manager.
Some suggested that city leaders should step down.
"You guys had the power to change it and you didn't," said City Treasurer Lizeth Sandoval, 28, who addressed the council as a resident. "You single-handedly destroyed the city."
Sandoval, a city employee, will be laid off as part of the cuts.
Local activists, who refer to themselves as "A Group for a Better Maywood," announced their intention to recall four of the council members: Felipe Aguirre, Edward Varela, Vice Mayor Veronica Guardado and Mayor Ana Rosa Rizo. The same group sought a similar recall in 2008 and failed.
"A Group for a Better Maywood" sounds like they think Maywood is "better" by spending its tax money on easily replaced bureaucrats.
I'm a bit flummoxed by the math in the 2nd paragraph, though. How do you get to the point that you can lay off 100 employees, then effectively replace them on a contract basis with the manpower of 12 people? The neighboring town is charging $50k a month, or about $600k a year. If they are saving $164k annually by doing this, then they used to spend $764k on these expenses. How do you hire 100 people off of $764k?
And... consider this. The town is 1.2 square miles. How big can that tax base possibly be? A quick googling shows the city population to be 28,224 in July 2008. The town spent $764k for municipal expenses, and at least $3.6 million for police services. Let's call it $4.5 million total city expenses. It's probably more than that, but let's go with $4.5 million.
$4.5 million tax burden shared among 30k people comes out to $150 per head in town. A family of four is paying $600 for municipal taxes. Strikes me as "reasonable" in comparison to city tax rates elsewhere. Some of that is probably raised by a city sales tax, and the rest via property taxes. I'm not advocating they raise taxes, mind you.
