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The Palm Beach Post had an article entitled,
Job, costs are focus of sheriff plan for takeover which was about Boynton Beach and its possibility of voting to go with PBSO. In the article there were Officer-Resident ratios and the cost per city. As it turns out, Lake Worth is paying more than any city in the comparison. The figures below are based on 2010. Since that time, PBSO has reduced the number of sheriff deputies on our streets from 134 to 120 and the price is going up for Sheriff services.
Susan Stanton negotiated a reduction in costs of $1.2 million with PBSO that was good for two years. It is now up and Bradshaw says he wants a whopping increase to his budget.
The comparison by city and each deputy cost based on number of officers and total amount of contract in 2010 is revealing. I have to wonder why Lake Worth is paying so much more than any other city. Do we just enter into "bad" or costly deals?
Belle Glade...$57,815
Lake Park...$73,067
Lake Worth...$106,647
Mangonia Park...$84,467
Pahokee...$40,385
Royal Palm Beach...$66,101
South Bay...$20,686
Wellington...$70,130
The PBSO is becoming a government on to itself. It is totally political and their top gun, Ric Bradshaw is elected to office. They have so much power and our public safety is in their hands. They are grabbing up cities right and left to add to their coffers. PBSO is a business paid for by the taxpayers who are sick to death of the crime increase and are being convinced that the Sheriff is the only way.
Municipalities must realize that the Sheriff markets its services in such a way to convince cities that they will be their savior--cities that are vulnerable and going through
temporary financial hard times. They imply that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and then take over all your policing assets. Once cities are taken over by the PBSO, there is no leverage and there is no going back. It will always be a constant hassle to negotiate and they're better than government staff in that process. Pensions and salaries will continually go up. On top of that, after the first year, patrol car sightings seem diminished.
They do, however, entrench themselves into the community by attending neighborhood association meetings and giving them a crime up-date. They put on fundraisers and do good deeds such as Haiti. This impresses everyone and that takes the sting out of the financial tab for some who believe and say, "We are safer." PBSO knows the emotional impact they have on this City and that citizen belief of
safety at any cost reduces the power of negotiation of their contract even further.
As Budget discussions start this week, it will take more than politics for City Manager Bornstein to keep the highest operating cost in check.
Crime is on the rise in spite of PBSO and has only gone down in two categories.
