CM PRESS # 498

WHAT ABOUT ONE POLICE FORCE FOR NEWPORT BEACH AND COSTA MESA?

We already have one school district for the two cities, so why not one police force? 

Newport-Mesa Police Department?

As with any proposal that is floated, there are negatives and positives.  One of the main negatives would be that some residents of each city would think that their city is getting the short end of the stick.

But, one has to wonder if combining the two police forces might save money and still deliver good service.
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COSTA MESA'S CREDIT RATING DROPPED
Link

In the above link, be sure to notice the words "socioeconomic factors," being part of the reason for the drop.

Now, what do you think that means?  Right.
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MAN SPENDS LIFE SAVINGS TO TELL PEOPLE THE WORLD WILL END ON MAY 21, 2011
Link

We can hardly wait to hear what he says on May 22, to explain why it didn't happen.

If he follows the usual pattern of those who predict the end of the Earth and then fail, he'll probably use some variation of one of the following excuses:

1. People prayed, so God changed his mind and spared the Earth.
2. I got the math wrong.
3. Only God knows the day of doom, and I was arrogant to think that I could predict it. God has now humbled me and I believe more than ever.

Ho hum.
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ABOUT THOSE PERCENTAGES WE USED...

You may have seen our recent column in the Daily Pilot [HERE] in which we wrote:

"There are ratios based on what other cities spend on labor versus other things in their budgets, and it turns out that Costa Mesa spends more than 80% of its budget on wages and benefits while the average for California cities is down below 50%."

Did you wonder about those percentages we used? Here are parts of two different OC REGISTER columns on this which confirm our above percentages:

"The city [Costa Mesa] is running a $1.4 million deficit this year, after cutting most non-essential services in recent years. But more than 80 percent of the city budget goes to pay employees; the statewide average is 47 percent."
 LINK to full OC REGISTER column.

And...
"In 2007-08, the statewide average for cities was 47 percent of the operating budget spent on salaries and benefits; the median figure was 49 percent. Costa Mesa's figure was 80 percent that year, and 78 percent for the fiscal year just ended.

Over the last 17 years for which data was available, Costa Mesa spent between 61 percent and 93 percent of its operating budget on salaries. Most years, the number was in the high 60s or low 70s."
LINK to full OC REGISTER column.

You read that right.  In at least one recent year, Costa Mesa spent 93 percent of its operating budget on salaries. 

In other words [takes off shoes to count toes] 93 percent of our operating budget went to salaries and just 7 percent went to other things.
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Those are our opinions.  Thanks for reading them.