If you want to do a little preparatory homework, read yesterday's post in Cincinnati.com about Crescent Springs new five-year contract for police protection with Erlanger. The Martin Chronicles has absolutely no comment about decisions made in Crescent Springs or the quotes provided by their Mayor Jim Collett. Our mission has always been and will always be to report on the ongoing corruption and incompetence of the Villa Hills feckless Mayor Martin and his cronies.
But that Cincinnati.com post does provide some clear clues about what would happen to the wallets of Villa Hills taxpayers wallets if Martin's radical plan comes to fruition. Readers should also bear in mind that the population of Villa Hills is more that twice that of Crescent Springs when trying to determine what Villa Hills residents would pay for outsourced coverage.
Crescent Springers' annual cost for outsourced coverage is about to jump from $876,000 to $988,000. For those of you who prefer percentages, that is a 12% increase. Over the rest of the life of the five-year contract, the annual cost increases in steady steps to $1.11 million. Again, for those of you who prefer percentages, Crescent Springers' annual cost for police protection will increase by 26% over the next five years. No additional coverage. No new services. So, the cost for more of the same goes up 26% by the time a new contract must be negotiated.
Our readers should also remember that a municipality is prohibited by law from spending money outside of its borders. Why is that important? Let's say one city contracts with another city for police protection-or any other service. If the city or county that is providing that police protection-or any other service-realizes that it is costing them more than what they contractually agreed to, they are forced by law to either ask for an increase in fees or terminate the agreed-to contract.
Has that happened? You bet it has. The City of Erlanger had to do that very thing just a few short years ago when they realized the cost of providing Emergency Medical Services to a number of cities was more than they anticipated. Each city that signed a contract for Emergency Medical Services from the City of Erlanger was forced to decide whether to pay significantly more than they contracted for or seek the service elsewhere.
Now, let's circle back to Villa Hills. Let's imagine the day the mendacious Martin just might be able to announce that he and his "golden moment" council have finally decided to contract for police services with the City of Erlanger, Park Hills, Ft. Mitchell, Ludlow or Whatever. You know what the mallet-headed Martin will bray. He'll say he did it "to save a whole bunch of money".
First of all, we know that will have next to nothing to do with it. Why? Because Martin and his willing allies on that "golden moment" council have simply been endlessly conniving to get a measure of unwarranted retribution for the miscreant Martin's judicially-declared righteous 2007 forgery arrest.
Secondly, many of us remember that "Rule of 72" we learned in school. For those of you who don't, you divide the number 72 by the rate of increase to determine how long a number takes to double. Flash back to the Crescent Springs story in Cincinnati.com. If Villa Hills would contract to pay a 12% annual increase for the cost of outsourced police coverage to another city it would only take six short years for that cost to double. Friends, that would translate to a serious amount of taxpayer money.
Readers should also be mindful of the fact that the annual increase in the cost of maintaining a well-trained, properly-staffed local police department would be far less. This is not even taking in to consideration the far better service a local police department provides its residents. Again, that darn devil is lurking in the details.
293 days until the election, but will it be too late?
