The relocation of three county departments to an office building on Technology Parkway reflects slow movement toward what are necessary and inevitable – bolder steps toward consolidation among local governments.
In a long-planned relocation of the sheriff’s office and planning and public works departments to a two-story building on the far north end of Hollister, the county’s leadership has acknowledged the need to consolidate government operations – even if this latest move is merely merging physical spaces of the three independent operations.
The question this begs, however, is why not go even further – and much further? Why not take those broader, deeper, more creative steps toward gaining maximum efficiency from local government?
While it is nice to see officials taking this relative baby step toward real reform, the $5.3 million annual deficit for San Benito County and the likely $3.2 million deficit at the City of Hollister – on top of the structural mountains of long-term debt both local governments face – call for something more.
That new headquarters for the three departments carries a geographic irony as well.
Once the sheriff’s office and other two county departments are all moved in, they will have their own daily reminder about the lacking efficiencies local governments promote and, in this case, pretty much flaunt: They can look out their windows, about five blocks down the road, and see the front of the city’s police station.
You know, the city that rejected a widely beneficial consolidation of the Hollister Police Department and San Benito County Sheriff’s Office. You know, the consolidation that would have saved taxpayers more than $300,000 annually. You know, the city that just had its redevelopment agency dissolved – and retained all of the department’s employees.
So now the local taxpayers who are already paying for a low-efficiency model not only get the two independently operating law enforcement agencies in a community of 55,000 people that doesn’t need two law enforcement administrations – which may or may not have differing philosophies and desires to cooperate – but local taxpayers now also get two police headquarters that are almost literally a stone’s throw apart.
Did anyone tell officials at the city and county – which supposedly work so well together toward cost efficiencies – that San Benito County has an area of 1,400 square miles, or a million acres? Geography absolutely must play into a decision of this magnitude – gaining maximum coverage through strategic placement of police personnel – but obviously didn’t win favor with the people who made this bizarre call.
Beyond the law enforcement consolidation – which should remain on the table, especially in light of the November election and potential for new leadership – this move to relocate the three departments shows that county officials understand the need for change. They and others just don’t seem to understand the need for something bigger – ideas that finally put the taxpayers first instead of placing convenience and the financial benefit to government employees at the top of the priority list.
Piecemeal changes, after all, don’t solve disasters.
That is why city and county leaders must finally come together and begin talks on a comprehensive consolidation plan that examines every department to find out where mergers are feasible and financially or operationally beneficial to the public.
While they are at it, it also makes sense to examine the legalities and logistics related to the potential for a full-blown consolidation between the city and county. Surely, unions and many employees would laugh it off and frame such an idea as absurd. During this fiscal crisis, no ideas for fiscal reform are absurd. No ideas for increasing cost efficiencies should be thrown under the bus.
Yet, we aren’t seeing any proposals that stretch the boundaries of precedent. Combining the three departments doesn’t get the job done. Neither does moving the sheriff’s office across the street from the police station.
If city and county leaders truly are in it for the people they serve, for the people who pay the bills, they would begin those talks on a broad consolidation plan that involves merging the two law enforcement departments, along with any others where taxpayers could save money.
