The 13 cities that pay the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to police their streets plan to study ways to reduce the costs of those law enforcement services after a handful complained that the price has risen steeply in recent years, straining budgets and leaving less money for other priorities.
At least three South Orange County cities – Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita – have seen sheriff’s costs increase by nearly 25 percent over the past few years. And in Laguna Woods, city officials fear that the whopping 78 percent jump in public safety costs over the last three years poses a threat to the city’s future solvency.
City managers from the 13 municipalities have met with each other and with Sheriff Sandra Hutchens over the past six months to discuss their concerns. Those officials say they hope the study will reveal whether they’re paying a fair price for law enforcement and whether alternative arrangements – such as having a single police chief for multiple cities or pooling resources to break away from the sheriff’s department – could save them money.
Each city’s governing council will vote by the end of September on whether to approve the collective study.
The sheriff’s contract cities also include Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Stanton, Villa Park and Yorba Linda. Mission Viejo, which announced the study on Friday, Aug., 18, will take the lead in hiring a consultant to conduct the research.
Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Lane Lagaret said the deputies’ union’s most recent contract caused the bump in costs.
In Sept. 2016, deputies received an 8.8 percent raise spread out over three years, costing taxpayers an extra $62 million over that time. It was the first increase in deputies’ take-home pay since 2008, and during that gap, contract cities saw smaller increases in costs.
Yet cities say the steeper growth in the sheriff’s department price tag began four years ago, before the deputies’ raise, and that they have averaged a 5.7 percent to 7.4 percent annual increase in law enforcement costs during that time.
Those growing costs have also been seen within county government, where the sheriff’s cut of general purpose revenue has doubled over the past four years.
In a few cities, public-safety services now comprise nearly half the annual budget.
“Our revenues aren’t keeping pace with those increases,” said Rancho Santa Margarita city manager Jennifer Cervantez, who said her city now pays 54 percent of its annual operating budget to the sheriff’s department. “The hope is that the study will help us find some ways of reallocating some costs.”
Aliso Viejo City Manager Dan Doyle said that if city revenues and police costs continue to rise at the same rates, the city’s entire budget would go to the sheriff’s department 25 years from now. Doyle said he has engaged in talks with officials from Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods about “exploring other policing opportunities.”
Laguna Woods City Manager Chris Macon called the rising policing costs “the single greatest threat to the solvency of our city.” He noted the small community has already cut services and staff from other departments in response to the increased public safety costs.
Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, whose district includes 10 contract cities, said the cities are being proactive so they don’t face ballooning costs like the ones that plagued the Northern California city of Vallejo, which declared bankruptcy in 2008 after public-safety expenses consumed nearly 80 percent of its budget.
But Bartlett also said the sheriff’s department provides an excellent value for cities and has advised some city officials against opening their own police departments, saying the model likely would cost much more. Many Orange County cities with police departments pay $300 to $600 per resident annually for law enforcement, she said. Meanwhile, the annual cost for contract cities is under $200 per person, Bartlett said.
Lagaret noted that those costs also include access to department helicopters, canine units, SWAT teams and bomb squads that can deploy in emergencies. He cautioned that if cities cut the number of law enforcement agents serving within their borders, it could cause safety concerns for deputies. Lagaret said the sheriff’s department determines service levels in cities based on population size and crime trends.
Sheriff Hutchens has said she welcomes the study.
Officials in other cities feel more comfortable and less threatened by the sheriff’s contract but think the study is still worthwhile.
“We’re actually at a very good position, so I wouldn’t call (the contract) a hardship,” Mission Viejo city manager Dennis Wilberg said. “We all agree, it’s good management and good practice to every so often take a look at the contract to see if we can create efficiencies.”