July 5, 2007

Today's editorial: Don't rock their boat
Deputies' group wants the sheriff, and all O.C. taxpayers, to continue paying for Harbor Patrol.
An Orange County Register editorial

When a government union is sending out mailers and running newspaper advertisements to stop a particular policy, taxpayers need to start paying attention. Such unions have few other goals beyond pay and benefit enhancements and job protection, so what's good for the union usually isn't that swell for taxpayers who will foot the bill.

In this case, the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs – the group that continues to steadfastly fight an independent audit of its taxpayer-funded health plan – is once again opposed to a policy that might save taxpayers money, improve service and create more local control and accountability. That policy, in its earliest stages, calls for a study of whether the cities of Newport Beach and Huntington Beach might more cost-effectively patrol their own harbors. Other cities could eventually follow that lead, and the deputies union is therefore concerned about losing jobs, even though cities would add new jobs.

The union mailer asks residents: "Want to pay more and get less?" It's a rather tame affair, as union mailers go, and mostly touts the department's "50 years of service" helping boaters and supporting "anti-terrorism/anti-drug efforts" along the coastline. But the union's tactics have been far more aggressive in its dealings with Newport Beach elected officials. The Daily Pilot quotes Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky: "Basically they said, 'We'd like a statement from the city saying we're not interested in taking over the harbor patrol.' The conversation was fairly threatening as far as they were concerned."

The union claims that it is merely educating the public about losses in service and higher taxes. That's a strange argument given that the only proposal on the table, by the Board of Supervisors, calls for a study of what such a shift might mean. No one yet knows whether services would be reduced or increased, or whether costs would be below the $10.4 million a year the county spends on what most deputies rightly view as dream duty – high pay for patrolling the coastline. Why not do a study and see what the savings might be? Competition always has good results. After all, the county Sheriff's Department competes with Orange County cities in providing police services, so why not extend the same model to the Harbor Patrol?

Supervisor Chris Norby, writing in the Register last month, made a persuasive case for the shift. He argued that the policy could free up millions of dollars annually for parks countywide. "[Newport Beach and Huntington Beach]should pay for the police and fire services they receive for the harbors within their city limits. Taxpayers in La Habra, Garden Grove and other inland Orange County cities should no longer pay to patrol private yacht moorings or bayside mansions. The transfer of Harbor Patrol funding will allow more resources for underserved urbanized areas of the county."

Ironically, Democratic Assemblyman Jose Solorio of Santa Ana is putting his union allies above the needs of the urbanized areas he represents. He is sponsoring legislation in the Assembly that would force the county to continue funding Harbor Patrol. Another union ally, Republican Assemblyman Jim Silva of Huntington Beach, is a co-sponsor of the bill, which undermines his supposed support for "local control." Mr. Silva told us that the county should pay because most people who use the beaches are not from the beach cities. Well, if that's the case, then the county should pay for police services in Fullerton because of the Cal State university and in Santa Ana because of the county government complex and on and on.

Certainly, one can debate at the board whether shifting the power from the county to the city is a good idea, but it seems beyond the pale to bring the state Legislature into this dispute. Then again, it's not beyond the pale if one's prime constituents are union members, not taxpayers.