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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

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This is always a difficult subject because of all of the facts and figures that are presented. The numbers can be confusing to those readers who have not followed my other blogs on the monthly reports. Here is a link to the report:http://www.glendaleaz.com/finance/documents/FY14MonthlyArenaReport-20140430.pdf . Here is the report itself:

April 2014 MonthlyArenaReport 

This monthly report publicly released by Glendale will reflect the last of the hockey games for this season but does not capture the supplemental ticket surcharge which is due and payable 60 days after each fiscal year. The new fiscal year begins July 1, 2014 so this line item would not be paid to the city or reflected in this report until September 1, 2014.

The Interest Income-Escrow Account still sits at $4,620 and has not been updated since the first monthly report.

The agreement revenues to the city to date total $4,686,412 and reflect a prorated 11 month fiscal year begun on August 5, 2013. The total city expenditures to date are $10,252,055. In this first year all figures are prorated. The total management fee the city will pay is $13,750,000 and total capital improvement expenditures are $450,685.   The report reflects a loss to the city, to date, of $5,565,643.

For purposes of discussion let’s include as revenue the supplemental ticket surcharge. It comes in at $774,452. Let’s add that amount to the total qualified ticket revenue received by the city; and new ticket revenue figure is $2,323,357. The total management fee of $13,750,000 and capital expenditure requirement of $450,685 paid by the city this fiscal year is a total of $14,200,685. Subtract revenues received from fees paid and the loss to the City of Glendale in this fiscal year is the grand total of $11,877,328.

Consider this. Next fiscal year even if all 17,700 tickets per hockey game were qualified tickets the maximum amount the city would receive is $2,537,000 in qualified ticket revenue. For this exercise, let’s add to that figure another $1,268,500 in supplemental ticket surcharge. Add an additional million dollars more in parking revenues to the nearly $1 million generated this year and the maximum revenue 42/43 hockey games per season can generate is approximately $6 million.  

Global Spectrum and IceArizona would have to have approximately 100 revenue generating non-hockey events in order to earn an additional $9 million annually to be paid to the city to offset the $15,000,000 the city must pay as an annual management fee to IceArizona. They will be fortunate to host 25 non-hockey revenue generating events next year.

Some folks dismiss the $6 million portion of the annual management fee because it was already budgeted. It’s not to be dismissed because it’s in the budget. The money still comes from General Fund sales tax revenue. It still counts. It is still money the city has to receive from sales tax revenue to pay all required arena expenditures. 

I added the Supplemental Ticket surcharge to the total revenues to be received by the city. Even with that “enhanced revenue,” the fact remains that this year the city’s loss is $11.8 million dollars. There is no more money forthcoming to the city from any magical or secret source.

For purposes of this exercise, here is how this year and the next 4 fiscal years worth of loss to the city may very well pencil out. For this exercise I reduce the annual loss by an estimated $2 million a year by increasing revenue to the city by an equal amount annually:

  • This year, FY 13-14           loss of $11.8 million
  • Next year, FY 14-15          loss of $  9.8 million
  • Year 3, FY 15-16               loss of $  7.8 million
  • Year 4, FY 16-17               loss of $  5.8 million
  • Year 5, FY 17-18               loss of $  3.8 million
  • 5 Fiscal Years                   Total loss of $39 million

Add to the $39 million deficit in earned revenues approximately $12 million a year in construction bond debt for a total of $60 million. In five years I estimate the city will pay $99 million dollars between paying annual construction debt and covering annual revenue losses generated by the management fee.

My disclaimer is that these estimates are my best, educated guess based upon the numbers that are publicly available. The actual loss number for five years could be higher or lower than estimated.

What is ironic about this IceArizona contract is that the “enhanced revenues” (with the exception of naming rights and the supplemental ticket surcharge) are not really new revenue. Before IceArizona and the NHL’s two years of management, the city paid no annual management fee…none…nada. Yet it collected the very same revenues — a ticket surcharge and a parking surcharge. They were included in the price of every ticket. Those revenues: sales tax earned inside the arena and the ticket/parking surcharges were used to pay down the construction bond debt because the city didn’t have to also pay a management fee.

With this new deal the management fee consumes all of ticket/parking surcharge revenues (in addition to the other revenues like naming rights) the city was already getting and leaves the city struggling to cover some portion of the $15 million deficit every year. Oh, and don’t forget, IceArizona takes $20,000 off the top of parking fees for every game. That comes to $860,000 this year.

Another irony is that when IceArizona took over, it didn’t subtract the existent ticket and parking surcharges that were historically already included in the price of the ticket. Those charges were absorbed and became part of the base price of the new IceArizona tickets to which they added the new, qualified ticket surcharge. In essence, every fan’s ticket now includes the old ticket and parking surcharges within the base price and the new IceArizona ticket surcharge is then added.

The management agreement was and is good for IceArizona but it’s not so good for Glendale. Earned revenues once applied to the construction bond debt are now used to cover the $15 million annual management fee. Those earned revenues simply are not adequate to cover the management fee.

The argument for keeping the Coyotes as an anchor tenant was to benefit all of the surrounding businesses in Westgate. With the totality of Glendale’s excessive debt burden the question must be, is it worth it to keep the team and struggle to pay the annual management fee? Or is Glendale better off going back to accepting one of the Beacon bids solicited last year? You decide.

© Joyce Clark,

2014 FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Caitlin McGlade had a story in the Arizona Republic of May 28, 2014 entitled Glendale to collect less than projected on Coyotes Accord. I found the spin by stakeholders fascinating. For instance, Monty Jones, of Global Spectrum and general manager of the arena, had the following to say about the non-hockey events booked into the arena this year, “it had a successful year.” Wow. They set the bar so low that no one can see it. Seven non-hockey, revenue earning events is embarrassing when the anticipated number of non-hockey, revenue producing events was in the 20’s. Jones went on to say, “The company hopes to book more events next year.” I hope to win the Pulitzer Prize next year but it isn’t going to happen. So far, it’s not looking so good for Mr. Jones, et.al., with 5 non-hockey, revenue producing events booked in the arena for next year.

Parking revenues continue to be a problem for IceArizona and the city with cheaper parking available at the Cardinals’ stadium and another 3,000 free spaces throughout Westgate. Who would have guessed? After all the ink on the management agreement was barely dry when  the Cardinals announced that they would undercut the Coyotes parking charge and the Westgate manager announced that there would be no change in their policy of keeping spaces free during hockey games.

The article went on to say Councilmember Sherwood’s solution was, “that the city consider blocking off a road to make it more difficult to access those lots (stadium lots) during arena events. Councilmember Martinez seemed to think it’s an idea worth considering and said of blocking access, “(it) probably crossed most of our minds.” Those minds would be the four councilmembers who voted for the arena management agreement: Sherwood, Knaack, Martinez and Chavira.

Sherwood’s cock-a-mammy idea of using governmental authority to directly impact a private business in competition with the city is akin to asking for a law suit. What are they thinking? Are they thinking?

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

This is the last blog in a six part series about Glendale’s debt. In previous blogs we explored the different kinds of debt, how those debts are paid and the purposes for which each debt was created. Some debt such as Enterprise Fund debt, Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) debt, Transportation debt and a portion of the General Obligation (G.O.) debt are reasonable debt. A portion of the G.O debt could be characterized as imprudent and unnecessary debt. The Municipal Property Corporation debt, in hindsight, is unnecessary debt created to fulfill the commonly held vision of former Mayor Scruggs and former City Manager Beasley.  

The purpose of this exercise is to manage Glendale’s debt by paying it down or eliminating portions of it. Very simply the city’s expenses are greater than its revenues. The result has been to strip the city bare and reduce services to its residents (such as reduced library days and hours) because the debt is absorbing revenues that could be used for other purposes. When a mistake is made it is better to accept accountability, rectify it and move on. A city is required to do the same.  

A simple example might be that you decide you want a new car. You don’t need a new car. The old one is fine but you have decided you must have a new car. You buy a Tesla (extravagantly expensive) just because you want it. However, to make the payments you cut back on food, utility expenses and other necessities. You end up eating beans and rice every day, live without air conditioning and stop using doctors but, by God, you have the car of your dreams. You may be comfortable with your decision but the rest of your family may not be so happy especially if they are not allowed to weigh in on its purchase. One day your child is ill and the family learns that you stopped making medical insurance payments. If it is a decision that affects only you, fine, but it’s not right to obfuscate when that decision affects others without their buy-in. In Glendale’s case it is the residents of the city many of whom are not fine with past decisions that incurred tremendous debt and have resulted in a diminishment of their services.  

Before I go too much further I wanted to share a newspaper clipping that I received. A scant 11 years ago this is what the Arizona Republic reported about Glendale’s finances:  Gl finances 3

By September of 2003, former City Manager Dr. Martin Vanacour had resigned (that’s a whole ‘nuther story) and Ed Beasley had been appointed by City Council. Make no mistake, Fiscal Year 2003 was Vanacour’s budget and Beasley never attributed its success to Dr. Vanacour’s management.

I hope Dr. Vanacour will not take offense if I refer to him as Marty. I respected and admired Marty a great deal. He was and still is, highly respected by his peers. Marty was an excellent city manager and was also fiscally conservative. I genuinely liked Marty. He was approachable and respected confidences. Sometimes he reminded me of a Buddha or sphinx as he would sit stoically, listening to my latest series of questions, comments or rants. 

There were a few, alas an important few, who wanted new management. They wanted someone who would lead Glendale into becoming the “new” Glendale acknowledged by all as THE Sports and Entertainment city. That someone chosen to be the new City Manager was Ed Beasley. Between 2003 and 2009, on former Mayor Scruggs’ and former City Manager Beasley’s watch all of the current MPC debt was incurred.  

The MPC debt is killing Glendale financially. This debt is paid out of Glendale’s General Fund because MPC debt is paid from sales taxes. Sales tax monies are received and accounted for within the General Fund. It should be the prime imperative for the city council to reduce or remove MPC debt by any means possible as quickly as possible. The elimination of MPC debt frees up General Fund money for other purposes such as restoration of library hours or other basic services Glendale provides to its residents.  

What does Glendale do now? It must use a combination of strategies that will bring Glendale’s expenses in line with its revenues eliminating the need to extend the temporary sales tax increase beyond its 2017 sunset date.  

STRATEGY #1: Implementation of the sale of Glendale’s assets. I am pleased to see that Glendale staff has finally drawn up such a list and presented it to council at the workshop on May 20, 2014. Staff acknowledged that they omitted the two city owned golf courses: Desert Mirage and Glen Lakes and that they belong on the list. Here is a link to Glendale’s current assets: http://www.glendaleaz.com/Clerk/agendasandminutes/Workshops/Agendas/052014-W02.pdf.

Executive Director of Finance, Tom Duensing, said recently, “Selling city property is just ‘one-time money’.” I beg to differ. Not in all cases. If a city facility’s O&M is being subsidized by General Fund revenues or if it still has construction debt then the city gains in two ways. It brings in much needed one-time cash that can be used to pay down or off the construction debt but it also eliminates an on-going General Fund expense.

A case in point is the Civic Center.   The Civic Center was built as Pay-As-You-Go with cash from the General Fund. It has no construction debt. Did you know that since it opened the city has subsidized its operation and maintenance in some form or fashion? There was even aCivic Center period of years when all city departments were required to hold all of their events at the Civic Center. It was a way to subsidize the Civic Center without being readily transparent since department event expenses are a line item in a department’s budget and there is no explanation regarding those payments.  

No matter what is suggested as an asset to be sold someone’s ox will be gored. There are so many stakeholders each supports a different city asset. It will be a painful experience for everyone. However, there’s either a will to finally fix this problem or not.  

What should be sold? My list will be different from yours. I welcome all comments to this blog that argue for or against the sale of a particular asset. My list would include, but not be limited Jobingto, in the downtown area, the Civic Center, the downtown parking garage, the Bank of America building, the Sine building, the Thunderbird Lounge property, the Civic Center Annex, the St. Vincent De Paul property and the city court property. In north Glendale, I would sell the Foothills Recreation & Aquatic Center. In west Glendale the city should sell Jobing.com Arena, the Media Center and Parking garage, and the Convention Center. If a legal way can be found to sell Camelback Ranch, that would be on the list as well.  

STRATEGY #2:  No employee raises until the General Fund has enough of a surplus to accommodate it. The current City Manager Brenda Fischer has complained that there is a 17% turnover rate of employees in Glendale but she never compared that figure to other Valley cities. In this economy people are thankful to have a job and we should know what vacancies currently exist, how many people apply and how long does it take to fill a vacancy? In other words, more information than the public has received to date. In police and fire there are always tons of people who apply.  

STRATEGY #3: While we are on the subject of vacancies, it should be standard practice to eliminate all unfilled vacancies each budget cycle. This is an accounting trick that has been used for years. It has always been a fist-fight to get staff to remove unfilled vacancies once and for all.  

STRATEGY #4:  All departments would be required to live within their annual budget appropriation, with no exceptions. No more fire department requests for additional money to cover overtime. Council should require (not request yet another study that goes nowhere) the fire department to move immediately to implement 3 man staffing on trucks and to implement the use of small, 2 man vehicles to answer medical calls.  

STRATEGY #5:   No carry-over requests from year to year with one exception. A project currently under construction but not completed within the year should be allowed carry-over to complete the project. If it is a project not yet begun it should have to compete for the appropriation the next fiscal year.  

STRATEGY #6:  Each department’s “Professional & Contractual Expense” must only be used for specific essential expenses. Only a specialty’s required licensing and organization membership should be permitted. The city’s payment for publications should be eliminated. The city’s policy on car allowances and cell phone use should be reviewed and the usage monitored carefully monthly.  

STRATEGY #7:  Council’s will to live within its means must be implemented as well. A majority of council possesses the prevalent attitude that it can approve new expenses and somehow the staff will find a way to cover them.

This is a time in Glendale’s history that calls for austerity. Austerity begins with the policy makers. If they cannot demonstrate their willingness to practice what they preach it sends the wrong signal to the entire organization. Signals emanate from Glendale regularly and are usually just as clearly understood as the white smoke that signals the choosing of a new Roman Catholic Pope. One clear signal that we all have seen is that Glendale will not stop spending. It makes one think of the people who declares bankruptcy but not before maxing out every credit card they possess. They “get their stuff” and use it before the court steps in to stop them. Sadly the creditors end up getting mere pennies on the dollar when that inevitable day comes careening down the tracks. I hear warning sirens in the distance…  

© Joyce Clark,

2014  

FAIR USE NOTICE  

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.  

 

The major categories of debt that Glendale carries have been identified in the bdu-4-pocket-khaki-tan-jacket-100-ripstop-cotton[1]previous 4 blogs. How the revenues are spent has also been explored.  The next question is…was the issuance of all Glendale debt prudent and necessary?

The issuance of Enterprise Fund debt, Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) debt and Transportation debt has historically been reasonable and prudent. The debt associated with these three funds are for the “bricks and mortar” of the city. They fund projects for the construction of new infrastructure as Glendale grew and for the repair and maintenance of all city infrastructures. They were used on projects as diverse as new water treatment facilities to new traffic lights to Northern Parkway.

There is one form of debt that I have not covered previously and that is the Interfund Loan debt. The General Fund borrowed from the Water/Sewer, Landfill, Sanitation, Technology Replacement and Vehicle Replacement Funds to cover two annual $25 million management fee payments to the National Hockey League (NHL) for Jobing.com Arena during Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012. The first $25 million annual fee payment in 2011 came from the General Fund’s Contingency Fund and no Enterprise Funds were used.

The second $25 million annual fee payment in 2012 came from loans from the above mentioned funds with the lion’s share of $20 million borrowed from the Water/Sewer Enterprise Fund. We know from Ordinance 1451 that, “The sanitation fund shall be a separate and protected fund, to be used for no other purpose than expenses associated with sanitation services.” The other Enterprise Fund Ordinances carry the same caveat.

There are some who have heart burn over the concept of the city having borrowed money from these funds. What they fail to recognize is that over many years, General Fund dollars were used to support these funds by carrying some of the Enterprise Fund employees or by not receiving full compensation for the support functions performed by General Fund employees. Historically, over the years, the Enterprise Funds have been supported financially in some form or fashion by the General Fund. Under those circumstances borrowing from the Enterprise Funds is not as egregious as some think it to be. Here is just one example of the financial interrelationship between the General Fund and the Enterprise Funds occurring on January 8, 2013, This is a request for City Council to waive reading beyond the title and adopt an ordinance approving an operating cash transfer from the General Fund (GF) to the Water/Sewer Enterprise Fund; and the transfer of 3.5 Full Time Employees (FTEs), and the associated appropriation authority, from the Water/Sewer Enterprise Fund to the GF, both of which are within the Financial Services Department.”

The debt issuance decisions associated with the General Obligation (G.O.) bonds and the Municipal Property Corporation (MPC) bonds have not always been prudent or even necessary. As has been stated previously some of the council decisions were political. In the G.O. bond category just two examples are: the accelerated advancement of the Foothills Recreation & Aquatic Center which was politically motivated; as was the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) number 1 placement of the Public Safety & Training Facility (PSTF). The PSTF was funded with a combination of G.O. debt and MPC debt.

Was the need for either of these facilities critical? No. Those that get everything in north Glendale wanted more and in this case it was their own recreation and aquatic center so that they wouldn’t have to travel down “there.” The number of resident-owned swimming pools in north Glendale and especially the Cholla district is astronomical compared to any other region of Glendale. It’s ironic that this facility has become regional serving the interests of Peoria and Phoenix residents. Councilmember Martinez would be quick to point out that the facility earned revenues that just about cover the annual O&M facility costs but those revenues do not cover the debt issued to pay for its construction. That’s being paid off by every property owner in Glendale with their secondary property tax.

Was the need for a Public Safety Training Facility (PSTF) critical? Again, the answer is No. To this day new police recruits go to a regional police academy such as the Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy (ALETA) for initial training. The PSTF is used by Glendale police for advanced training only, another function whose needs can be met elsewhere. The Glendale fire department just had to have this facility even though they have always been able to obtain training slots for new recruits at the regional facilities in Phoenix and Mesa. Training slots had never been an issue. Suddenly the dearth of slots became the rationale for Glendale’s very own training facility.

Lastly we arrive at the MPC Bond debt. Were the projects funded by MPC debt critical and necessary? The answer is No.  Decisions regarding MPC expenditures were often political. Former Mayor Scruggs always went ballistic when she heard references to Glendale as the town of “hicks and sticks, plows and cows.” She and former City Manager Ed Beasley shared a vision. Their vision was that Glendale would become an equal of the well known Valley cities who had developed a niche and a city brand for themselves. Tempe is known as a college town. Scottsdale has always been the “west’s most western town.” Chandler and Gilbert were becoming the technology towns. Glendale wanted to be the sports town.

The former mayor often had majority council support from Councilmembers Eggleston, Martinez, Frate and Goulet. All wanted Glendale to be a member of the “big boys’ club” that included cities like Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. All had cache and Glendale had none. The road to acceptance meant Glendale’s branding as a sports and entertainment mecca and accepting the cost associated with making that a reality. As major developments appeared and wanted costly incentives to locate in and around the Westgate area, more and more MPC debt was issued.

Glendale has issued more MPC debt than it can sustain for such projects as Jobing.com Arena, Camelback Ranch, the Regional Public Safety Training Facility, Zanjero infrastructure and the Westgate parking garage, media center & convention center. All…very “big ticket” projects. These projects are the albatrosses hanging from Glendale’s neck.

The final blog in this series will explore any possible solutions to paying down or eliminating the MPC debt. Can it be done? Yes but it requires the will to do so.

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Quentin Tolby is a former Councilmember and a former Mayor of Glendale. He left his position as mayor to accept an appointment as a judge. He is currently retired. For years he has written a column called Lessons from the Bench for the Glendale Star. Usually his column focuses on legal issues in an effort to educate the public. Every once in awhile he strays from that concept and opines on other issues. On May 22, 2014 he penned an article entitled, When city unions lobby council, is it a fair fight?

Unfortunately this column cannot be seen online as the Glendale Star has not included it under its opinions tab.

Some of his comments are worth sharing, such as, “The problem is the strongest city union gets the advantage. It’s not a fair fight; which union can promise the most money in the next election or the most votes? Can a councilman truly be voting what he or she thinks is fair when they have taken money or support from a city employee union?” Or this, “We tend to think that public safety issues are our highest priority, but what would be your highest priority tomorrow morning if no water came out of your faucet, or you flushed your toilet and it did not flush. What would be your highest priority if no one picked up your trash?”  And this, “All city services are important and one department should not be given more just because their union can produce more political pressure and votes at election time than some other city department.”

He offered some good observations. Let’s apply them to Glendale.  There are only three unions of note in Glendale: The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), Glendale chapter; the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Glendale Chapter; and the Glendale Law Enforcement Association (GLEA).

The main chapter of the National FOP has a legislative Political Action Committee (PAC) and here is the link: http://www.fop.net/legislative/pac/index.shtml . The organization’s focus is on presidential and congressional races and candidates and it will often support candidates for an individual state’s Attorney General office. It does not seem to focus on local races.

It’s fair to say the police unions have never been very strong politically in Glendale. For years the two police unions, the FOP and GLEA, have vied with each other to be the paramount police union in Glendale. That struggle was their primary focus rather than mounting a major effort to elect local officials sympathetic to their agenda. The two unions attempted to join forces during the last election cycle in 2012 to support certain mayoral and council candidates but their efforts paled in comparison to that of the local Glendale fire union.

The national chapter of the IAFF is extremely politically active all the way down to the local level. Check out these two links to see the extent of their involvement: the first site highlights their local political activism at http://www.iaff.org/Politics/PA/localaction.htm ; the second site is used to actively elect firefighters to local office at http://www.iaff.org/Politics/PA/electing.htm . They have successfully elected local candidates in the Phoenix Metro area and throughout the state. Currently there are 3 Phoenix firefighters serving on the city councils of Mesa, Tempe and Glendale. A Glendale firefighter serves on the Phoenix city council. Cities and towns throughout the state have a firefighter or firefighter’s relative serving on their councils.

The Glendale chapter of the fire union controls Glendale politics. For years, John Holland, the chapter’s former President, was THE power broker in Glendale. Former Mayor Scruggs’ as well as others’ electoral successes can be directly attributed to John Holland’s efforts. John Holland reputedly managed at least one councilmember’s successful bid for office. Then he disappeared, suddenly, after it was alleged that he used union money for personal expenses. The Pinal County Attorney General’s office was charged with investigating the allegations and to this day it remains buried deep within the bowels of that office. Hmmmm.

How did the local fire union become so powerful and remain so? Money and people. The federal Hatch Act forbids city employees from participating in their city’s election. The fire unions created a successful work-around the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act does not prevent firefighters from other cities from participating in an election in another municipality, other than their own. It’s perfectly legal. Firefighters from other towns will walk and circulate a candidate’s nominating petition and campaign literature. It’s perfectly legal. They will also work the polls on election day. It’s perfectly legal. Once on the ballot fire fighters from other cities (as well as spouses and relatives) will contribute to a candidate’s campaign along with contributions from other local union chapter PACs.  It’s perfectly legal. Then independent expenditures kick in and a specific PAC is born chaired by firefighters from another community. The PAC will spend big money on campaign signs and mailers. It’s perfectly legal. All of the union’s methods are perfectly legal but it seems to smack of gaming the system.

With all that money and manpower it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the newly elected official is beholden to the fire union. The official will offer the usual rhetoric that all the union gets is access but they know if they wish to be reelected they had better carry the water. In Glendale a majority of the current council, debatably, owes its election/reelection success to the fire union. Add to that some of Glendale’s senior management have relatives who are firefighters. Just one example: current City Manager Brenda Fischer’s husband was and may still be a firefighter in Henderson, Nevada. Is it any wonder that council approved additional revenue to offset the fire department’s overtime deficit? Is it any wonder that the union finally prevailed on getting their fire truck without a formal bid process?

Former judge Tolby is right on the money (no pun intended) in saying that every city department is valuable and provides services residents cannot do without. They are the unsung, under belly of city services. Their jobs are invisible. Their jobs are not sexy or exciting. Every week sanitation workers pick up the garbage that we are often too lazy to separate into recyclable and genuine trash. Every day our water treatment plants are monitored to make sure the water we take for granted is clean and safe.  Every day sewers are repaired, city vehicles are maintained, Gus the Bus and Dial-A-Ride deliver people to their destinations, meters are read, streets are repaired, library books are checked out and parks and their restrooms are cleaned. There are so many essential services that we never think about or recognize. These honorable men and women silently work to keep our city functioning and are not part of a very powerful and vocal union who has figured out a system to wield enormous local, political power.

When we think of layoffs it’s never in public safety. There may be vacancies in public safety that go unfilled or eliminated but never layoffs. Immediately we are told that public safety delivery will suffer if there were to be layoffs. Layoffs are for the rest of the city’s employees. After all, they are not essential and are expendable. Really?

It’s time for Glendale voters to check out who is making independent expenditures for candidates in its local elections. Does the organization making that independent expenditure represent what you believe and your agenda? Realize that the candidate receiving a group’s election support will advocate for and support with their vote, that organization’s agenda. It had better be yours as well.

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Pocket #4 contains Municipal Property Corporation (MPC) Bond debt of $29,496,137. It totals 33% of Glendale’s debt for this year.  According to bdu-4-pocket-khaki-tan-jacket-100-ripstop-cotton[1]the latest Glendale Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) of 2013, the overall total of MPC debt is $1,020,889,000.

So far we’ve examined the contents of three pockets: Pocket #1, Enterprise Fund debt; Pocket #2, HURF and Transportation Bond debt; and Pocket #3, G.O. Bond debt.  These revenues come from specific sources; either customer utility bills, or State Shared revenue, or a dedicated transportation sales tax or secondary property tax.

The uses of monies from Pockets #1 and #2 are regulated and can only be used for utilities, or streets or transportation projects. Pocket #3 is regulated as to the amount of money it may acquire but the stipulations for revenue use are very broad and leave room for council decisions that can be political.

As was identified in the last blog, the state had, by statute, limited the amount of G.O. Bond debt any city could issue. Two categories of G.O. bond debt were created, restricting the amount of bond issuance to two categories: one of 6% of assessed secondary property value and another of 20% of assessed secondary property value.

The Municipal Property Corporation, however, was born as a means by which any city can circumvent the state imposed G.O. debt restrictions and allow the issuance of more municipal debt. Cities throughout the state have created MPCs…from Sierra Vista to Surprise. The earliest reference I could find to Glendale’s MPC is December of 1985.

There is no comprehensive definition in Arizona’s Revised Statutes for an MPC. Generally all are 501(C) (3) s, commonly known as non-profits. The bonds they issue are repaid by a city’s General Fund’s excise (sales tax) revenue. Technically, the bonds issued by a municipal corporation are not considered debts of the city, according to the state revenue department. They are not constrained by the same revenue and expenditure limits as that of G.O. bonds by which cities must abide.

Bonds issued by an MPC are not a debt owed by a city. If they default, a city is not legally bound to pay them with its general tax revenues. But realistically a city does have to make sure the debt is repaid. A city could not allow its MPC’s bonds to default, especially if MPC debt created assets like a water system or an airport. Although it’s not the debt of a city and is a debt of the MPC, any city would be obligated to pay it.

Since there are no restrictions on the amount of MPC debt a city may issue, it’s an area that can quickly lead to financial trouble as it has in Glendale’s case. Glendale’s long held, council adopted policy on excise (sales tax) funded debtstates that debt service will not exceed 10% of the 5-year average of the General Fund Groups’ ongoing revenue.Glendale is not in compliance with its own 10% policy and hasn’t been for several years. The money that goes into this pocket is not enough to cover what has to be paid out of this pocket. There isn’t a pocket large enough to hold what Glendale needs to pay out of it.

These bogs were offered to provide a better understanding of Glendale’s debt structure — where the money comes from and how it is used. In the next two blogs we’ll explore the “why” of some debt that was issued and lastly, are there solutions to Glendale’s debt. The answers may not be pretty.

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

So far we’ve examined the contents of two pockets: Pocket #1, Enterprise Fund debt and Pocket #2, HURF and Transportation Bond debt. Their bdu-4-pocket-khaki-tan-jacket-100-ripstop-cotton[1]revenues come from specific sources; customer utility bills, State Shared revenue and a dedicated transportation sales tax. The uses of these monies are regulated and can only be used for utilities, streets and transportation projects.

Pocket #3 is different. The source of money that goes into this pocket is identified but the restrictions for the use of the money are petty general. In Pocket #3 is Glendale’s General Obligation (G.O.) Bond debt for this Fiscal Year of $22,729,785. This bond debt is 26% of this year’s total debt. The total overall G.O. Bond debt is $163,310,000.

G.O. bonds are direct and general obligations of the city. Glendale uses G.O. bonds to fund many large-scale projects in its Capital Improvement Program. It does NOT use G.O. bonds to pay for water, sewer, sanitation, landfill, many transportation related projects and professional sports-related facilities such as Jobing.com Arena and Camelback Ranch.

Capital Improvement projects are the infrastructure that all cities must have to provide essential, quality of life services to current and future residents, businesses and visitors. They also prevent the deterioration of the city’s existing infrastructure, and respond to anticipated future growth of the city. Capital Improvement projects can be almost anything as the list below demonstrates and this list is by no means complete:

  • fire and police stations
  • libraries, court facilities and office buildings
  • parks, trails, open space, pools, recreation centers and other related facilities
  • landscape beautification projects
  • computer software and hardware systems other than personal computers and printers
  • flood control drainage channels, storm drains and retention basins

Where does the money come from to pay G.O. bond debt? G.O. bonds are backed by “the full faith and credit” of the city. State statutes heavily regulate this form of municipal debt and require that secondary property tax revenue is restricted solely to paying General Obligation (G.O.) debt. G.O. bond issuance must be in compliance with the Arizona Constitutional debt limitation for G.O. bonded indebtedness to 6% or 20% of a city’s total secondary assessed valuation.  G.O. projects in the 20% category are:

  • Water, sewer, storm sewers (flood control facilities) and artificial light when controlled by the municipality
  • Open space preserves, parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities
  • Public safety, law enforcement, fire and emergency services facilities
  • Streets and transportation facilities

G.O. projects in the 6% category are:

    • Economic development
    • Historic preservation and cultural facilities
    • General government facilities
    • Libraries

The list is endless in terms of city infrastructure paid for by G.O. bonds. Here are just a few:

  • Bethany Home Outfall Channel
  • Foothills Library
  • Relocation of Fire Station 151
  • Foothills Recreation & Aquatic Center
  • Field Operations Complex
  • Adult Center Facility

A Capital Improvement project must fit into either the 6% or 20% category. Note that these categories are very broad. Typically city staff will offer city council a list of CIP projects that they deem necessary. It is at this point that the process can, and often does become, subjective and political. City councils can move a lower priority project to the top of the CIP list and bump others down — often resulting in oblivion and extinction for the bumped project.

An illustrative case in point: In 2004 a majority of city council (Mayor Scruggs, Councilmembers Eggleston, Frate and Goulette) approved immediate construction funding for the Foothills Recreation & Aquatic Center. Suddenly it became #1 on the CIP project list that year. As a result the facility became fully funded for construction and opened in 2006.

Another example was that in 2006 the same majority of council stripped the CIP Western Branch Library project of $6 million dollars and diverted those funds to pay a portion of the construction funding for the Regional Public Safety & Training Facility. They made the training facility a priority that year and by removing designated funding for the west library relegated it to oblivion. To this day the library has never been built. These are examples of purely politically driven decisions.

We know where the money comes from for G.O. bond debt. It comes from secondary property tax. The only restriction on issuing G.O. bond debt for CIP projects is that they must fit into either the 6% category or the 20% category. But those categories are merely descriptive. What should be of concern is that CIP project movement up or down on the list by city council is often highly subjective and politically motivated.

At least there is a restriction on the amount of debt that can be issued for G.O. bonds as it is dependent on a specific formula of 6% or 20% of a city’s assessed secondary property valuation. The uses of G.O. bond revenue and the debt it creates has proven to be murky because council makes the final, and often political, decision as to what is funded.

The next blog will tackle Pocket #4. If you consider the use of G.O. bond revenue to be confusing and cloudy, just wait until the discussion of Municipal Property Corporation (MPC) debt.

© Joyce Clark,

2014 FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

From the last blog we now know more about Enterprise Fund debt than we ever really wanted to know. It is important to remember that it has a bdu-4-pocket-khaki-tan-jacket-100-ripstop-cotton[1]dedicated source of funding – customer utility bills. Its debt is not paid with sales tax revenue. Since it is separate fund it does not impact the city’s General Fund. It is safe to say that it is not the primary cause of Glendale’s financial problems. Let’s dig into the next pocket and see what we find.

In Pocket #2 is the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) bond debt of $4,695,875 – 6% of Glendale’s total debt and Transportation bond debt of $7,331,080 — 8% of Glendale’s total debt. This is an easy one too.

When Glendale builds new roads or maintains and repairs them it uses HURF bonds. They are used to finance the improvement, construction, reconstruction, acquisition of right-of-way or maintenance of streets and highways of the city including traffic control devices as well as bridges and noise walls. Two examples of its use can be seen in the Arrowhead area along the Loop 101. The sound walls adjacent to the Loop 101 and the pedestrian bridge that spans it were paid for with HURF.

Where does the money come from to pay HURF bond debt? Every city in Arizona receives State Shared Revenue and one of the pieces of State Shared Revenue is HURF. For instance, when you fill up your gas tank, part of what you pay is a tax on a gallon of gasoline. It goes to the state. The state, in turn, gives back a small portion of that tax to cities based upon a specific formula. Glendale, as does every other city in the state, receives this money back as state shared revenue.

Transportation bond money comes strictly from Glendale’s voter approved dedicated portion of the city’s sales tax. After voter approval of this dedicated sales tax the city created a long term transportation plan for the money’s use and it is monitored by a citizen oversight commission. It is specifically dedicated and can only be used for transportation related projects from street repair to installing new traffic lights. The revenue is used to build transportation projects including design, construction and right-of-way acquisitions, roadway widening, intersection improvements, transit stops, bicycle connections, park and ride lots and airport projects. The bike lanes and bus stops throughout Glendale were paid for from the transportation sales tax.

We know where the money comes from for this pocket and when we take it out we know the narrow uses for this money. HURF money comes from state shared revenue and Transportation bond money comes from sales tax that can only be used for that purpose. Both of these funds can only be used for street and transportation projects.

In the next blog we’ll explore Pocket #3. Unfortunately things will become murkier as we move from the realm of specifically dedicated uses for bond revenue to the more discretionary uses found in Pockets #3 and #4.

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Suppose you had a coat with many pockets…many, many pockets. You are allowed to put certain dollars into each pocket and you may spend, with bdu-4-pocket-khaki-tan-jacket-100-ripstop-cotton[1]restrictions, for only one specific thing from any one pocket. It would be complicated and problematical, eh? Well, the coat is Glendale’s budget and each pocket has a specific purpose and restrictions. Why bother to learn about Glendale’s debt? There is no doubt that Glendale’s debt burden is at the root of its financial mess.

We’re going to look at the pockets that handle debt…all kinds of debt; Enterprise Fund debt, Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) debt, Transportation Debt, General Obligation (G.O.) debt and Municipal Property Corporation (MPC) debt. All of the facts, figures and information came from public sources such as Glendale’s Budget Book for 2014 and other public, official Glendale documents.

Glendale’s total debt for Fiscal Year 2014 is $89,228,314 out of the total of all revenues received from all sources of $576,000,000. Roughly 15% of all revenue received by Glendale goes to pay off debt. 15% is way too high. It should be under 10%. These five categories constitute the major sources of Glendale’s debt burden:

  • Enterprise Fund debt is $24,975,437……….28%
  • MPC debt is $29,496,137………………………….33%
  • G.O. Bond debt is $22,729,785………………..26%
  • Transportation Debt is $7,331,080…………..  8%
  • HURF debt is $4,695,875…………………………   6%

Let’s take the easier debt pockets first and get them out of the way.

In Pocket #1 is Enterprise Fund Debt of $24,975,43728% of Glendale’s total debt. Water & Sewer Bonds are 27% of the city’s total debt and Landfill debt is another 1%.Enterprise Funds are water, sewer, sanitation and landfill. The Enterprise Funds were established by ordinance in 1986. Here is a portion of the text from the Sanitation Ordinance 1451:The purpose of the sanitation fund is to accumulate all revenues and earnings received for sanitation services, to accumulate all interest earnings thereon, pay all administrative, operational and maintenance expenses, direct or indirect, of same, and accumulate contingency funds as an operational fund reserve to the sanitation fund. The sanitation fund shall be a separate and protected fund, to be used for no other purpose than expenses associated with sanitation services.” The other funds reflect the same language in their enabling ordinances. Note that these funds are protected and not to be used for anything else.

Enterprise Funds are accounted for in a manner similar to a private business. Enterprise funds are intended to be self-sufficient with all costs supported primarily by user fees. They are stand alone funds. Their revenue does not go into the city’s General Fund. What Glendale residents pay each month for city utility bills goes into these Enterprise Funds. When debt (in the form of bonds) are issued it is for infrastructure projects such as the new 91st Avenue Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Cholla Water Treatment Plant, the replacement and repair of water lines throughout the city and treatment plant upgrades to meet new federal regulations. Landfill bonds will be used to close the south portion of the city landfill and to open up the north portion.

This debt is issued based on revenues received from customers for service. In an emergency the city could use secondary property tax revenue but by habit and practice, it has never done so. We know where the money comes from for this pocket and when we take it out we know the narrow, restricted uses for this money.

The next blog will look at Pocket #2, HURF and Transportation Bond debt. It’s an easy one as well. Understanding a city’s debt burden is as dry as dust but in order to arrive at solutions for dealing with Glendale’s debt, it needs to be understood. Once we get a handle on it, let’s see if there are any solutions to bring it under control.

If Enterprise Fund debt is still unclear to you or you have a question related to it, please offer your question as a comment at the end of this blog. I will do my best to answer it. That way everyone will be able to see the question and answer.

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Glendale is not the only municipality facing financial pressure. One has only to look at Phoenix’s $37 million shortfall. Many municipalities are adopting new strategies to cut their budgets. One area of a municipal budget that merits further scrutiny is the fire department. Let’s look at Glendale.

Public Safety consumes over two thirds (67%) of Glendale’s General Fund. Glendale’s proposed  FY 2014-15 budget shows a total police department budget of $77,604,581 and a total fire department budget of $36,744,314 (roughly half that of police). The police department has total personnel of 537 and the fire department has total personnel of 267 (roughly half that of police). Everything tracks. The police department has twice the personnel and twice the total budget as that of the fire department. Except in one, major area – Overtime (OT), Hourly & Specialized Pays. You would expect the fire department expense in this line item to track at about half that of the police department. Not so.  The police department line item figure for OT in the FY 2014-15 budget is $1,675,000 covering 537 personnel. Astoundingly, the fire department OT line item figure is slightly higher than that of police’s at $1,681,000 covering 267 people.  Clearly, the fire department’s OT, Hourly & Specialized Pays is out of control.

So, we know the police department’s budget and personnel are twice that of the fire department’s with the exception of Overtime Pay in which they spend virtually the same amount. How can that be? The fire department’s practice of Constant Staffing requiring 4 people on each fire truck is creating unsustainable demands for overtime pay.

There is one other piece of information that is important to consider. In FY 2013-14 the Glendale Fire Department answered 30,040 EMS (Emergency Medical Service) calls; 3,570 fire calls; 2,238 miscellaneous calls and 619 special operations calls. Glendale’s medical calls have become the “elephant in the room” for the fire department. Its medical calls are ten times that of fire calls. Obviously the fire department’s mission has evolved over time. Its first priority is now medical response and fire suppression response, while still critical, has become its secondary mission.

Municipalities across the nation are recognizing the tremendous financial burdens placed upon them in covering the costs of fire department overtime as well as the costs associated with sending a large fire truck to a medical emergency. And they are beginning to act.

In Spokane, Washington as of January 2, 2013 the city decided that three fire stations and one ladder station would start using smaller vehicles on medical calls as opposed to the larger ladder trucks, which age quickly and operating and maintaining them was becoming more and more expensive. They decided it was important to spend their limited resources wisely taking into account that 78% of those three stations’ calls were medical.

Here’s another example: The Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVF&R) near Portland, Ore., was one of the early adopters of a fire/ALS deployment model using smaller vehicles. The department initiated its “Car Program” in 2010 as the way to respond to the increasing demand for EMS in a more efficient and effective manner. With 80% EMS calls, the department searched for a way to effectively respond to lower-priority requests for service and still maintain readiness for major emergency incidents. Instead of deploying a four-person staffed $400,000 full-size apparatus, the department purchased a $31,000 Toyota FJ Cruiser and staffed it with a single fire paramedic to handle calls such as minor traffic accidents, community service requests and lower-priority medical emergencies.

Or… In August 2012, the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., received a report that highlighted the recent trend of fire department rightsizing. The ICMA (International City Managers Association) made 22 recommendations to Grand Rapids municipal leaders that included a variety of changes to the fire department’s EMS response. One of the first recommendations was to eliminate five full-size fire department apparatus and replace them with smaller, more cost effective RRVs. The result was an estimated savings of $2.1 million.

And this… The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) began providing rescue services in the late 1950s with the use of panel vans that carried firefighters to the scene of motor vehicle accidents and other requests for non-fire suppression services. This model of prehospital care delivery was retained as the LACoFD became one of the nation’s first fire ALS providers in the early 1970s. Today, the department still delivers ALS care by way of quick-response squad trucks staffed with firefighter paramedic personnel. The primary benefit of this ALS model is that it ensures a better utilization of resources while maintaining a cost-effective response. When an LACoFD squad arrives, the paramedic can determine if ALS care is required and then either accompany a contracted ambulance transport provider or return to service for another response.

San Jose, California as well as other cities across the nation are considering or have already reduced the number of firefighters on each response truck. It has proven to provide fire departments with more flexibility and better coverage. Four people on each engine to answer a medical call, was impracticable. Neighboring agencies, like Santa Clara County Fire, already assigns just three people per engine. The reasoning was that since 94% of all calls are medical, the Santa Clara County Fire Department was over deploying.

The practice of responding to medical calls with full-size apparatus is proving to be an expensive and inappropriate use of equipment. One deployment concept that appears to be gaining as an option for the fire service to meet both a decrease in budget and an increase in the demand for organizational efficiency is the transition from full-size fire apparatus to smaller rapid-response vehicles (RRVs). Some departments have used this concept for years to deploy ALS personnel to the scene of a medical emergency and to work in conjunction with other apparatus on fire suppression incidents. Fire departments must embrace new approaches to the deployment of their EMS resources by using peak demand staffing and changes to apparatus.

The “right resource, right place and right time” model has become the key concept for the deployment of fire EMS first response resources. Adopting a clinical, financial and operational strategy; and changing and rightsizing EMS resources appears to be the answer to many of the challenges faced by fire departments today. The modern fire service is now expected to be innovative and able to change its business practices by recognizing  evolutions in the response to the majority of service requests, especially as a majority of calls are now medically related.

As we move toward a change in the nation’s healthcare delivery system based on accountability and clinical outcome, the department that can adapt to new norms will be the most successful.

Models with reduction of personnel on response units and redeployment of those personnel to reduce overtime and the use of small, medical response units staffed with fire paramedics are being used successfully throughout the country.

It’s time to right size the Glendale fire department. Will the Glendale City Council have the strength of will to request that changes be made? Will the Glendale fire department and more importantly, the Glendale fire union, innovate and adapt to the reality of shrinking resources and the increased demand for more effective, reasonably priced medical response? Or will they use the buzz words of “diminished service and response time” to fight it?

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.