In response to the most recent post, Anon, reflecting on Monday night's Council meeting, pointed out, "Unfortunately, there was nothing constructive added to the pool of idea's to plug the 8? 10? 15? million dollar gap."
Good point. So, fine minds of Pomona, what brainstorms can we offer? Let's hear all the ideas; big and small. Heck, we just might stumble on something.
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ooh, my little pretty one, pretty one
when you gonna give me some time, Pomona?
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18 comments:
One idea is simple. Simply ask the chief if the department can downsize to a level they can afford right now and still provide safe policing. I bet you money he will say yes! oh but wait, our council did not give him the courtesy of having any input in this.
Sheriff's will be cheaper because they will not staff the city with as many officers. if that is an option, then how about allowing the pomona pd to downsize like that too. then when times get better they can build it back up.
The economy will improve one day. Lets just calm down and make the necessary adjustments to the department to weather this storm. If we panic and throw the department away, our community will never get it back. then what?? 100 years of history and commitment down the drain
What makes you think they didn't ask the Chief if he could downsize during the last year and half while other city employees were being let go? The PD is the only city entity that has yet to take a hit to their budget. Maybe now with the Council looking at other options the Chief might offer up some funds.
How can one get a copy of the Pomona proposed or present budget
City Budget? Check the now working (finally) Pomona website (www.ci.pomona.ca.us) under City Departments, Finance.
I believe the PD is down 30 officers right now -- that's a substantial percentage of the force.
My idea would be to stop the continual use of consultants, and construction management services for various city projects. These are functions which should be performed by staff.
As well, I believe we should eliminate many of the top tier management positions within the city.
Lastly, I would renegotiate the contract for legal services with the current firm representing the city. I would put a cap on the annual amount paid for services and ask for a reduction in the rates....if the current firm refused, I would shop for new representation.
oh, forgot...
I would suspend all travel/entertainment expenses for the Council. I would suspend all perks, conferences, educational reimbursement, etc.
Anon,
Where were you during the last budget council meetings? The PD lost it's report writers this past budget. That means that OFFICERS now have to write up reports, which takes them off the street. They have been cut in each budget over the past several years.
The ONLY department that I'm aware of that hasn't had any cuts and, as Paula Lantz noted on Monday, has had a $1.5 million dollar annual increase, is the contract with the LA Fire Department.
In the last budget meetings it was proposed to cut one fire engine company out of the city. At the 11th hour the FD came back with a proposal to buy some property from the city. As a result, NO CUTS TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Please back up blanket statements like PD has had no cuts with some additional information . . . or perhaps got to those meetings where these decisions are being made.
Although not a quick fix at all, I really think we should be asking more from our Redevelopment Agency. Look at the role of a redevelopment agency and then take a look at the city comparison that was included in one of Calwatch's links. It's pretty clear where the problem is.
Also, we've discussed the outsourcing of the legal department before and I've been in favor of an in-house position. We need better risk management and I don't believe outside counsel which benefits from additional litigation will truly have the city's best interest in mind.
Just a few questions for anyone to answer........how long will it take to transition to the LASD if the vote wouldn't even occur until November? What accounts for the declining budget projections? And for someone who understands redevelopment agencies, if we sell the "auto row" land for retail development, will the RDA coffers primarily benefit vs competing for auto dealerships in the next few years and generating sales tax revenue which would go back to the city?
I really don't know the answers to these questions, but given we need to look at both the short-term and long-term fiscal viability, I can't escape the conclusion that we need to better understand the role of the RDA and the effect of their decisions.
Legalize and tax prostitution and crack? Then we'd get revenue and wouldn't need vice cops. Two birds; one stone. Kidding,of course.
Back to reality...
Quoted from a January post about the Housing Division Annual report:
"Which budget line paid for the production of this 8 1/2 X 11, 10 page, high-gloss piece loaded with nonsense clip art? Presumably all Pomona households received a copy (or, in some cases, two copies), so this was a large scale mailing. Given the fiscal state of our fair city, I question whether the city might have saved a few pennies by creating a less glossy report with less filler material. It just seems wasteful."
With a little marketing savvy, one could package this information more cheaply with more impact.
My understanding of redevelopment is that the agency get's what's called "Tax Increment" funding. That is, any increased taxes received from redeveloping a property goes to the RDA and that is then used to fund more redevelopment.
I'm not fully sure how it works in Pomona as the city council sits as the Redevelopment Agency. Most of my experience is with the city of LA's Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA) which is separate from the city council.
PoP,
I'm at a loss to contribute ideas about increasing our city's revenue. However, it seems clear to me that one way we should NOT be doing it is by making Pomona a "City of Trash."
The City Council seems hellbent on making Pomona a "City of Trash." Current plans are in the work to increase the First St. Waste Transfer Station by Pueblo Elementary (on First Street) TENFOLD! Furthermore, the city seems to be moving in the direction of establishing a second major waste transfer station by Washington Elementary. This site would collect waste not only from Pomona, but from 17 surrounding cities!
Resulting air pollution, (not from the stations themselves, but from the estimated 1012 daily visits of garbage trucks that would begin converging on Pomona), would exceed the threshold set by the South Coast AQMD. The air pollution would almost certainly increase respiratory problems among children.
_Good to Great_, a highly regarded study by management guru Jim Collins in what allows some organizations to make the leap from good to great, recommends that organization stick to a “hedgehog concept”, a single defining concept around which to align resources and energy. With Pomona Valley Hospital and Medical Center, a Top 100 Hospital, and Western University of Health Sciences, a medical school of growing renown, Pomona’s identity seems to be growing in the direction of being a “City of Health.” The installation of possibly multiple waste transfer stations and their resulting pollution would seem to be transforming Pomona into a “City of Trash.”
Obviously, I'm pretty upset about this. As someone with asthma and as a parent of small children, I don't want anything threatening my family's health. Also, I just can't imagine this kind of "development" discussion happening in Claremont, LaVerne, or Covina.
I'm no math wizard, but during a quick tour of the PD's 09-10 budget, one item popped out at me. If I'm reading it correctly the department receives $855K in fines, all fines, but for sake of argument let's assume this income is generated by traffic enforcement,notably motorcyle enforcement.(no. 619 of the budget). No. 601 of the budget, expenditures, "Traffic Patrol Services" shows a $2,496,694 expense. Follow me now. It costs almost $2.5mil to collect $855K. Eliminate the "Traffic Patrol" and save $1,631,694. Probably more if any of that division is charged off to administration, dispatch, etc. This examination took me all of 5 minutes. Wonder what a forensic accountant could find. We can't let the City run amuck with no enforcement, but if this department was contracted out to the private sector I'm pretty sure the savings would still be significant..And it doesn't impact our patrol cops one bit. Motorcycle cops do nothing else except write tickets. Pretty expensive meter maids.
Fallacious argument. Traffic patrols are not supposed to be self supporting. If there were no traffic cops (and eliminating them lets everyone know that) then there is no reason for anyone to obey the law.
Tried to post a moment ago and it didn't go through. Again. I agree with you regarding traffic enforcement, we must have it, but our very capable police officers patrol a very specific quadrant of the City and they can certainly write tickets and enforce our traffic laws. I've never seen a Sheriff on a motorcycle, have you? It would appear they know how to enforce traffic laws as well.If we are goiong to keep our police department we need to come up with possible solutions.
I'll be clearing a few comments up on the subject in this rant. Pomona PD has cut almost 50 police officer positions since 2007. This was done by not hiring behind vacant positions and retirements. So all told that is almost 25 percent of the force gone. That is not even on the non-sworn side of the house. Then the cops gave 5 percent of their own money out of pocket so the City could run this last year. This wasn't done by giving up a vacation day. It was done by cold hard cash. The Police budget went from 55 million a few years ago to almost 39 million for the up coming year (look at the books). That is a grand total of 16 million in just under three years. The traffic comment is unfounded because a huge part of the traffic guys and gals is funded via grants which must be spend on just that, traffic. Pomona only has ONE helicopter not two and it is farmed out for money to other cities to make up for the cost. The police department takes cut after cut and so do other departments except one, the Fire Department. Yes my friends the golden goose. They are over 25 percent of the budget and refuse to take any cuts. In fact it's going up yet again this next contract. Mind you if LACFD takes a cut not one fireman who works in the city loses a dime. No one with Fire guy gets canned. All it means is LA County gets a few less cents in the General Fund which is in the billions, just ask LASD. No LASD can not do the job better for a laundry list of reasons. They not only don't have the people to do it right they can't handle the volume of calls with the same amount of people. Want to hear the true well here are the facts. LASD will provide a lower level of policing for a few bucks cheaper to start, but the details are what gets you. Helicopter billed per call. SWAT (SEB) billed per call. Motor cops, billed. Traffic Accident report billed as extra service. Roll up fee every year of the contract. A six percent extra charge for the legal defense fund related to lawsuits outside the city involving LASD. This is just to name a few a very few. Remember this, LASD's last real contract was the city of Compton. That contract has gone up 85% in nine years. Not only that, but the city got so sick of up charges, lies and lack of service they are going back to city police. Santa Fe Springs closed the contract and farmed it out to Whittier PD. That is just two examples of many. I'm not bad mouthing LASD they have some really good guys, but the machine they work for is broken. What it boils down to is the city needs to bring in better companies, stop giving money away to day worker camps, learn to save not spend, collect on owed bills, cut the fire contract by 25% and focus on it's city not the council who only care about getting to Sacramento. City manager Linda Lowry is the problem not the employees. Want to save over $100,000 a year canned her ASAP. She single handedly flushed the toilet on city funds. Firing cops is not a solution. Bringing in LASD not a solution. The last line of defense in the USA is the line cop. The guy or gal that answers the 911 call and finds you when you need them the most. Pomona cops are educated, dedicated and involved so deeply a lot of them choose to live in the city. LASD and LACFD are faceless machines brought into cities to fill a needed void. First chance to promote or transfer they are gone to other areas. Come out to your next council meeting and shake a few of the Pomona cops hands. They will be there to shake it back along with a cup of coffee and cookies bought by them. By the way since I'm still typing I'll end it with this. RECALL Rothman and vote in Romero for a brighter future.
I'll be clearing a few comments up on the subject in this rant. Pomona PD has cut almost 50 police officer positions since 2007. This was done by not hiring behind vacant positions and retirements. So all told that is almost 25 percent of the force gone. That is not even on the non-sworn side of the house. Then the cops gave 5 percent of their own money out of pocket so the City could run this last year. This wasn't done by giving up a vacation day. It was done by cold hard cash. The Police budget went from 55 million a few years ago to almost 39 million for the up coming year (look at the books). That is a grand total of 16 million in just under three years. The traffic comment is unfounded because a huge part of the traffic guys and gals is funded via grants which must be spend on just that, traffic. Pomona only has ONE helicopter not two and it is farmed out for money to other cities to make up for the cost. The police department takes cut after cut and so do other departments except one, the Fire Department. Yes my friends the golden goose. They are over 25 percent of the budget and refuse to take any cuts. In fact it's going up yet again this next contract. Mind you if LACFD takes a cut not one fireman who works in the city loses a dime. No one with Fire guy gets canned. All it means is LA County gets a few less cents in the General Fund which is in the billions, just ask LASD. No LASD can not do the job better for a laundry list of reasons. They not only don't have the people to do it right they can't handle the volume of calls with the same amount of people. Want to hear the true well here are the facts. LASD will provide a lower level of policing for a few bucks cheaper to start, but the details are what gets you. Helicopter billed per call. SWAT (SEB) billed per call. Motor cops, billed. Traffic Accident report billed as extra service. Roll up fee every year of the contract. A six percent extra charge for the legal defense fund related to lawsuits outside the city involving LASD. This is just to name a few a very few. Remember this, LASD's last real contract was the city of Compton. That contract has gone up 85% in nine years. Not only that, but the city got so sick of up charges, lies and lack of service they are going back to city police. Santa Fe Springs closed the contract and farmed it out to Whittier PD. That is just two examples of many. I'm not bad mouthing LASD they have some really good guys, but the machine they work for is broken. What it boils down to is the city needs to bring in better companies, stop giving money away to day worker camps, learn to save not spend, collect on owed bills, cut the fire contract by 25% and focus on it's city not the council who only care about getting to Sacramento. City manager Linda Lowry is the problem not the employees. Want to save over $100,000 a year canned her ASAP. She single handedly flushed the toilet on city funds. Firing cops is not a solution. Bringing in LASD not a solution. The last line of defense in the USA is the line cop. The guy or gal that answers the 911 call and finds you when you need them the most. Pomona cops are educated, dedicated and involved so deeply a lot of them choose to live in the city. LASD and LACFD are faceless machines brought into cities to fill a needed void. First chance to promote or transfer they are gone to other areas. Come out to your next council meeting and shake a few of the Pomona cops hands. They will be there to shake it back along with a cup of coffee and cookies bought by them. By the way since I'm still typing I'll end it with this. RECALL Rothman and vote in Romero for a brighter future.
Interesting concept. Romero for Mayor?
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