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Health & Fitness

Some Ideas for the Town Councils as They Head Towards a Financial Cliff

This is the first in a short series that describes some of the duplication at the local level in the Ross Valley and some ways to consider more efficiency at less cost.

(This blog is the first in a series that looks at the recent moves by the town councils of both Fairfax and San Anselmo as they move forward on asking the voters to approve sales tax increases to support "general government.")

Recent actions by both San Anselmo and Fairfax Town Councils seem to defy recognition of the serious financial situations facing the federal, state, local governments, and the individual taxpayers as well.

If that were not bad enough, there is talk in Sacramento of a ballot measure, initiated by Governor Brown, to restore taxes that expired in July, along with increases in automobile fees, and cuts to other vital services such as state parks. Here in the Ross Valley elections for tax increases appear to be coming from both Ross Valley Schools and the Tam High School District. To add to the "frosting" on taxpayers' plate is the huge increase in fees that is slated for implementation by the Ross Valley Sanitary District.

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I believe that the taxpayers in the Ross Valley have had enough talk about tax increases, increases not only for needed infrastructure of our schools and sewers, but NOW for a local increase of the sales tax in both towns to fund what is usually called "general government."

"General government" is the elusive term for what really appears to mean doing things the same way, only now it costs us more to keep doing the same things the same way that we have been doing for the last 100 years. It might seem strange that local government has not joined the rest of the industrial world and taken a hard look at just how civic business is carried on.

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By way of explanation, Tip O'Neil, long-time deceased Speaker of the House, said it best, "All politics are local."

What O'Neil did not say is that the "nuts and bolts" of local government are our neighbors who have committed their working lives to serving the public as government administrators, planners, police officers and fire fighters, and recreation directors. They consistently do great work in the face of ever decreasing budgets, state mandates, and citizens who cannot understanding why certain programs have to be eliminated.

Along with the services provided, most government employees, myself included during my 26 years of service, operate from a basis that, in one sense, prevents them from doing anything that remotely threatens their personal and individual future. If one does the very best in managing the system that does not threaten them in any way, either now or in the future, life is good. Otherwise known as the "Golden Handcuffs," government managers and now some local elected officials appear to be bound by the driving force to keep doing things the way we have done in the past. Trim a little here, change the color of a building there, lay off one or two newer employees, while wringing hands so the voters see that some sort of survival activities are taking place. When all the wringing hands is done, there is nothing left to do but raise some sort of tax to maintain the status quo.

It is amazing that in the 21st Century there is even a question raised about the value of consolidation of various services and government activities. No longer does one police department have to "land line" another jurisdiction for assistance. No longer is it necessary in our Ross Valley to spend countless dollars doing the same thing over and over again and again. For instance, the total pages of five separate budget documents for the towns in the Ross Valley exceeds 500 pages! Each document is assiduously prepared by Finance Directors, who at great duplicative cost are doing the very same things as their counterparts next door. Road crews stop patching at the town line, leaving behind a pothole "belonging" to the adjoining town, insuring that instead of one two-man crew doing the job, four people, two dumptrucks, two completion reports are filled out -- all for a pothole.

Administrators in Marin have a wide variety of what are called "affinity" groups in each of the various specialities, such as Town Managers, Planners, Finance Directors, Public Works Directors, Police & Fire Chiefs. Each one of these groups meet monthly, most of the time, for half a day to discuss common interests and problems facing their members. This too is good in sharing the community of interests between the various jurisdictions, but is it cost effective?

Recently, which, if implemented, could potentially save several hundred thousand dollars every year, without affectively reducing any services. Interestingly enough, two San Anselmo Council Members actually demanded that the official minutes of the meeting where the presentation was made be changed to say that while they did not support "consolidation" they were very supportive of "cooperation" between the agencies. The council took no action after the presentation.

Have you ever thought what happens when you have a medical emergency and call 9-1-1 if you live in the Ross Valley. Rescue 40, from the Ross Valley Paramedic Authority, responds, crossing the town and county lines without ever negatively affecting either the response time or critical care. In the fire and police services mutual aid assures the adequate number of responders show up, regardless of the official decal on the door or the vehicle number of the fire truck or patrol car that saves your bacon. (This blog will not address the fact that there are NINE fire stations serving the 52,240 residents of the Ross Valley!) 

In the next in this short series some ideas will be shared that just might make the services provided by local government a little more effective and less duplicative. 

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