By Andrew Galvin
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA, Calif. — City says fire department and zoo among places that it could trim to close deficit.
The City Council on Monday heard a two-pronged presentation on the grim state of the city’s finances — which could include outsourcing Santa Ana’s nearly 130-year-old fire department and more than a dozen other city services.
A presentation by Paul Walters, interim city manager and longtime police chief, included a list of 16 services that will be considered for outsourcing. The Fire Department, established in 1883, could be dismantled, its services outsourced to the Orange County Fire Authority. Others on the list include the city jail, Santa Ana Zoo, street sweeping, police training, police animal-control services and the Santa Ana Public Library.
The list of 16 was chosen after extensive meetings of the city’s top department managers, Walters said.
As for outsourcing the Fire Department, Fire Chief Dave Thomas said: “It’s not something I think we want to do, but it’s something we have to look at.”
Full details are on the city’s website: a 116-page report by outside consultant Management Partners Inc. that gives a fascinating, highly readable overview of how the city got into this mess and a six-page response from Walters.
Walters said he’ll begin presenting outsourcing recommendations to the council in January after the city has gathered bids from outside agencies or companies that could take over some services. Any outsourcing could involve layoffs of city staff, he said.
Asked if declaring bankruptcy is a possibility, Walters said: “It’s always an option. Is it somewhere we believe we would go? Absolutely not.”
Bankruptcy would be a gamble that paying legal fees could cost less than adhering to contracts with the city’s labor unions, said Andrew Bellknap of Management Partners.
While cities all over California are in a financial bind, only Vallejo has declared bankruptcy.
Of the city’s $210 million general fund budget, 79 percent goes to personnel costs. Of those personnel costs, 55 percent are from the Police Department, 28 percent are from the fire department, and 17 percent are from all other departments, according to the Management Partners report.
The city is meeting with its unions, which have already been making concessions such as forgoing scheduled wage increases, to try to bring down its personnel costs.
The general fund deficit, estimated at $18 million when Management Partners did its analysis in May, has since worsened, and is now closer to $30 million for the fiscal year starting in July 2012, Bellknap said.
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