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But Maywood was facing the same budget problems as Dallas, declining sales tax revenues and depressed property values. So the city fired everyone and simply outsourced ALL city services.
Although Maywood may be much smaller than Dallas, some of its problems seemed much larger. Four years ago a deputy city clerk was arrested and charged with hiring a hit man to whack a city councilman who was arguing for job reductions. The clerk, who was afraid his job was among those to be reduced, was sentenced to a year in jail and (I loved this part) six months of anger management counseling.
And while the only thing bothering the Dallas Police Department seems to be unnecessary concern over a police escort at a funeral for the son of the police chief, the California attorney general described the Maywood Police Department as "one permeated with sexual innuendo, harassment, vulgarity, discourtesy to members of the public as well as among officers, and a lack of cultural, racial and ethnic sensitivity and respect.”
Now the city is patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The budget for the police last year was $8 million. Outsourcing has cut that by 50 percent.
Like I said, this option probably couldn't work for Dallas and shouldn't even be tried. But outsourcing more services - perhaps starting with libraries, streets, and, of course, my old department, Public Information - might not be such a bad idea. I'm betting a small elite team at a crackerjack PR company could do a great job for the city at a fraction of the cost of staffing PIO now. I would also explore outsourcing all payroll functions; just the cost savings in new software platforms alone would make this worthwhile.
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