Mayor Ballard is talking public safety budget cuts for
2013. At the risk of being repetitive I
will refer back to a September 2011 PoliPit article titled, “IPD
– MCSD Consolidation / 5 Years Later”.
We detailed the insanity and lies of then Mayor Peterson and his
administration about the cost savings that would come with consolidation. SURPRISE….they never materialized! Here we are in 2012 with bloated budgets, a
bad economy, the wreckage from an ignorant Public Safety Director, and a police
force with low morale and reduced manpower.
I can’t think of too many good things that will come from this
reality. IMPD has already been forced to
“do more with less” for the last 2 years, and Mayor Ballard informs our city
that the next 2 years will be even tighter.
I’m all for balanced budgets and reduced government spending, but the
problem is bigger than these simple platitudes of “saving money”. The problem was created by our government,
and yet again, they claim to know how to “fix it.”
Local government, at its basic core, has very few things it
should be responsible for and public safety is the most important. I’ve included a link to the Indianapolis/Marion
County 2012 Budget. It’s not itemized,
but it’s not too difficult for someone who isn’t politically connected to
glance at our local government expenditures and find places to cut. The problem is that too many of our politicians
have obligations with politically connected individuals and entities that cloud
their vision and decisions. Allow me to
offer a few of my own budget cuts:
1.
Marion
County Sheriff Budget 101 Million:
Reduce the number of Special Deputies.
They aren’t trained as well as full merit IMPD officers and yet they are
equipped with cars, guns, radios and a whole host of other items at the taxpayer’s
expense. Also, reduce positions of rank
within MCSD, IMPD and IFD; too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
2.
Public Safety Department Office 4.4 Million: Eliminate the office entirely or reduce it to
1 Public Safety Director, preferably not Straub, and a secretary, preferably
not Straub.
3.
Office of the Mayor 3.38 Million: Slash salaries and the number of Deputy
Mayors.
4.
Public Defender Agency 17.4 Million: Most criminals claim to be street lawyers
anyway, so let them represent themselves.
Cut salaries and positions. Think
of it….tax dollars fund defense lawyers who are partially responsible for much
of our increase in crime. Bad guys go
free and crime increases.
5.
Parks and Recreation 20.2 Million: Privatize the parks; most of them are in
horrible condition anyway because non-tax paying parasites abuse them. I’ve never been a fan of government owning
large chunks of land anyway.
6.
Department of Metropolitan Development 31.6 Million:
Give me an itemized list of this
expenditure and I’m sure we could save 20 million.
7.
ISA (Information Service Agency) 34.4 Million: See above.
I’m not an accountant, but I slept in a Holiday Inn Express
last night.
It is time for the City-County Council to resume the Frank Straub hearings and fire him! -But your idea of totally eliminating the Department of Public Safety is even better, that would save millions of TAX dollars spent on an unnecessary bureaucracy!
ReplyDeleteGreat article!! I don't know if I agree with all of your cost cutting ideas, I would need to do some investigation, but I think you are off to a good start. It is never a good idea to cut teachers, firefighters, or police officers. These are the people who give so much more than they could ever be compensated for. I went on a ride along with a police officer once. After watching that officer in action you will never hear me complain about a police officer again. I am not ashamed to admit that he went into situations with grace and courage that frightened me out of my wits. I also watched as he treated everyone with dignity whether they were acting like they deserved it or not. I suppose that is what makes so many police officers great, they treat people with respect without a thought as to whether or not they deserve it. God bless them. For all of our sakes Mayor Ballard cut the truly unnecessary not police officers.
ReplyDeleteThis article is great ! I can't believe I didn't read this yesterday!
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:31, your sarcasm is obvious
ReplyDeleteI believe Amos Brown reported yesterday that Ryan Vaughn was quoted as saying that the city can't afford the payraises offered to IFD and IMPD. I'm very interested to see, if the contract gets reopened, how this works going forward.
ReplyDeleteI know many city employees haven't had paybumps in a loong time. Bart Peterson may have been a Democrat, but he loathed unions and it showed in how he negotiated with his employees.
It's an interesting dichotomy how Republicans and Democrats work in this city. Bart Peterson gave his staff an enormous pay raise, then a slight pay cut the next year to look like he cared. Ballard said "what the hell," and just gave out a big raise anyway.
In regard to Straub, I've been told that Spokane officials will be in town Friday. Not sure what for, though.