(Dec. 24, 2008) -- Using her non-taxpayer-paid internet blog to communicate directly with taxpayers, 5th district Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske has proposed creating a "Long Beach Little Hoover Commission" -- with politicians kept out -- to examine possibilities for funding services such as libraries, animal control, graffiti removal, vector control and potentially others through Special Districts spanning traditional LB City Hall, LBUSD and L.A. County lines.

"The time has come when we may not be able to afford all these governmental jurisdictions going it alone anymore. We need to pull together revenues and resources to provide services that can be shared on a cost-effective basis. For instance, we need to coordinate library services with the cities, county and school district and put it all into a Library District that would serve all the areas in the Long Beach Unified School District," Councilwoman Schipske writes.

Noting that budget news from Sacramento and City Hall isn't good ("Simply stated: there isn't enough revenue to support the level of services expected by residents"), Councilwoman Schipske writes:

"Traditionally, two choices are given to solve such a problem: cut governmental services or increase revenues through raising taxes and fees. Neither choice will work any longer."

She proposes creating a "Long Beach Little Hoover Commission" that looks at "all layers of government in our immediate area and comes up with ideas on how we can share resources and make our common services more efficient. We need to keep elected officials out of the process because we all will try to protect our own turf and not much will result."

Councilwoman Schipske's blog dispatch states:

[W]hich governmental services do we cut? Right now, public safety consumes over 60% of the Long Beach budget. The 40% or so remaining must pay for every other service provided by the city: library, parks and recreation, public works (streets, sidewalks, trees, gutters, storm drains), planning and building, code enforcement, street sweeping, licensing, animal control, vector control, management of city government. Significantly cutting any or all of these services will negatively impact the delivery of services our residents have come to expect and will effect the quality of life in our city.

...How about approaching the problem from a different angle? Every city surrounding Long Beach (Lakewood, Avalon, Signal Hill),the unincorporated areas of the County of Los Angeles and the Long Beach Unified School District are having the same problems and have the same demands for the same type of services such as -- libraries, public safety, parks and recreation, animal control, graffiti removal, vector control. Yet each jurisdiction struggles to find revenue and resources to provide those services within their own boundaries.

Meanwhile, we know that in Long Beach crime doesn't stop at the city boundaries. We know that people from other cities use our parks and recreational programs and that if the school fields were open after hours and on weekends we would be able to meet our sports demands. We know that our parks and recreation programs provide after school and vacation time care because our schools can't afford them. We know that our libraries are the life-line for school age children and their parents and others of many cities because of our regional status as a quality system. We know that the County Vector Control covers some of our city, but not the eastern portion. We know that citizens call the city when they see graffiti in a flood control and the call gets referred to the county for its crew to respond...

The time has come when we may not be able to afford all these governmental jurisdictions going it alone anymore. We need to pull together revenues and resources to provide services that can be shared on a cost-effective basis. For instance, we need to coordinate library services with the cities, county and school district and put it all into a Library District that would serve all the areas in the Long Beach Unified School District.

To do this, we need to form a "Long Beach Little Hoover Commission" that looks at all layers of government in our immediate area and comes up with ideas on how we can share resources and make our common services more efficient. We need to keep elected officials out of the process because we all will try to protect our own turf and not much will result...

For full text, click here.

CA's "Little Hooever Commission" is an independent state oversight agency [website text] "that was created in 1962...to investigate state government operations and -- through reports, recommendations and legislative proposals -- promote efficiency, economy and improved service. By statute, the Commission is a balanced bipartisan board composed of five citizen members appointed by the Governor, four citizen members appointed by the Legislature, two Senators and two Assembly members. The full Commission selects study topics that come to its attention from citizens, legislators and other sources."

Councilwoman Schipske's proposal comes as LB city management indicates City Hall faces an estmated $15.7 million in spending exceeding revenue ("deficit") in FY 09 alone [more expected in the coming year] unless measures it's implementing now (hard hiring freeze, department spending reductions, greater contracting out), plus use of some one-time monies, plus political hot potatoes not yet pursued formally (including city employee furloughs) produce sufficient savings to avoid midyear cuts.

LB taxpayers face these measures after enduring nearly $17 million in fee increases/cuts made in September 2008 to deal with a roughly $16 million deficit (spending exceeding revenue) attributable mainly to negotiated agreements with police, fire and non-public-safety employee unions.

And that comes on top of a four-year "deficit reduction plan" under former City Mgr. Jerry Miller and former Councils that included fee increases.

At a December 22 meeting of the Council's Budget Oversight Committee, Chair/Councilman Gary DeLong [who has supported exploring ways to streamline local government] said that all city departments may be affected...and nothing should be off the table.

Councilwoman Schipske ends her blog dispatch by noting, "[I]f we don't all get together soon and do something to pool our resources and streamline our services, we're all in for a lot of trouble."