Manager compares costs to neighboring communities to address claims

By Erin McClary
C & G Staff Writer

BEVERLY HILLS — Village administrators say they are trying to clear the air of recent accusations that Beverly Hills Department of Public Safety officers make more money than neighboring communities’ police, fire and emergency medical personnel.

At the same time, council members are trying to reiterate the fact that services come at a cost. Crumbling home values have put a huge dent in the village’s revenue, and paying for current services is becoming unaffordable, officials say.

A local group of constituents, called A Better Beverly Hills, say the village’s Public Safety officers are paid too much.

The discussions are carried out in the shadow of a 1.9 mill proposal currently on the table for the November election.

During a March 2 Village Council meeting, Village Manager Chris Wilson presented the actual operations cost comparisons of neighboring communities. He said one of the main benefits of having a public safety department is having full-time, cross-trained police and fire professionals bundled into one lump cost.

Aside from being trained in emergency medical response, Public Safety officers in Beverly Hills have to go through both police and fire academies.

Wilson said the combined cost for the two public services is significantly lower than stand-alone costs for separate full-time fire and police protection. For the 2009-10 fiscal year, the operational cost for the Beverly Hills Public Safety Department is $4.38 million.

Wilson presented a comparison report detailing what neighboring communities pay for fire and police services. According to his report, for full-time fire services, Birmingham, with an approximate population of 19,300, spends $4.7 million each year; Royal Oak, with a population of about 60,000, spends $9.2 million; and Bloomfield Township, with a population of roughly 43,000, spends $11.1 million.

Wilson also compared costs of neighboring communities that utilize a public safety service combining police and fire. Berkley, the report states, with a population of about 15,500, spends $4.5 million; Bloomfield Hills, with a population of about 3,900, spends $4 million; and Oak Park, with a population of roughly 32,400, spends $9.38 million.

The 2000 census concluded that the village of Beverly Hills had 10,437 residents.

“If you extrapolate the fire costs alone on a per-capita basis and compare with the costs for Beverly Hills Public Safety, clearly public safety is a good value for full-time professional police and fire services,” he said.

Further, Wilson produced findings on the financials of employing a volunteer fire service, something constituents have suggested in the past. “Volunteer fire does not mean free fire (service),” he explained. “Volunteer departments still cost money.”

He used the city of Troy as an example. According to Wilson’s report, Troy — which with approximately 81,000 residents has a population almost eight times greater than the village’s — paid more than $4.5 million in 2009-10 for its volunteer fire department, “greater than the entire Public Safety Department budget for Beverly Hills.”

Despite the findings, A Better Beverly Hills said in a recent statement: “We submit that the core reason for the Village’s financial issue is that village and payroll are too high. Safety officers are overpaid when compared to the equally qualified officers in Berkley and Oak Park, and when compared to the highly qualified officers in Birmingham.”

The group also argues that the Village Council continually approves “overgenerous contracts” to Public Safety union members, but Wilson said that’s not the case. Public Safety union contracts expired Dec. 31, 2009, and he said village administrators have been involved in negotiations ever since.

“We, like any other community, are negotiating with our Public Safety union … but we are subject to the laws, including Act 312 binding arbitration,” he said. “There are portions of our contracts that are not sustainable, and we’re going to do the best we can to get those negotiated.”

If an agreement isn’t reached, the village will “roll the dice” and turn the matter over to an arbitrator.

Wilson said: “It’s not in the village’s best interest to discuss (union negotiation sessions) publicly” and could not share details.

At the same meeting March 2, Village Council members spoke up in support of the millage proposal. Council Member John Mooney agreed that everyone wants lower taxes. “But it is not legitimate to ask for lower taxes and demand the same level of services.”

If the millage proposal fails this November, officials say the village would eliminate five or six Public Safety positions, and one or two full-time and one or two part-time administrative positions, and Beverly Hills’ contract with the Baldwin Public Library would be terminated.

“I don’t want less cops on the street and I don’t want to lose the library,” Mooney said.

You can reach Staff Writer Erin McClary at emcclary@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1118.