Here's a story on NPR this morning about how a small town in Ohio addressed its traffic violation issues AND raised a boatload of money:
"One municipal government seems to have solved some of its budget problems by writing extra traffic tickets. In the small town of Heath, Ohio, the local police typically issue about 100 tickets per month. Then they put in some traffic cameras. Suddenly, in the first month, the police issued 10,000 tickets."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111527478
That's a million bucks for them! What a great idea for Mt. Gretna--instead of paying a police officer to patrol one road and rarely, if ever, issuing tickets, why don't we install ticket-issuing cameras. Then we can pay Cornwall by the incident response.
Now, I have in mind to go to the Borough office and read through all our Borough meeting minutes to read the Cornwall Police reports. Why? Well, because, at each meeting, they are supposed to submit a report of their services and activities in their 10 (or 15) hours of providing police services to us. And, never, in any of the police reports to the Borough, have I seen them state that they gave out ANY speeding tickets or tickets for other traffic violations. So, I figure I can estimate their ticket issuance at, oh, NONE. But, in fairness, I will check the record and get back to y'all on the findings.
Even if the number is greateer than one, I think we can all agree that the actual number is going to be extremely small, and here are some reasons that I think that situation will never change. First, Cornwall PD has a very limited contract with us in terms of provision of actual services. If they write a ticket that is contested, that police officer will have to spend many hours in court. Our contract with them doesn't seem to include that. Second, why issue the ticket in Mt. Gretna and not 100ft. away, in Cornwall. Cornwall won't see the revenue generated from the fines if the ticket is issued in another jurisdiction.
So, it seems to me that we really need to reconsider what we are paying for, especially since responsibility for police services will default to the state police if we do not have a contract with another police department. Yes, response time may increase, but we have to ask ourselves what services we really use here. Our emergency responders service (fire, ambulance) would not change, and why is a quicker response to, say, a couple of noise complaints a year, worth tens of thousands of dollars--especially when we are suffering a budget shortfall, have a poor capital improvements "bank" right now, and the overall economy is in the pits.
Shouldn't we at least consider using those funds to purchase "service" that better addresses our community's real issues AND is a revenue generator, instead of a revenue burden.
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9 comments:
100 feet from the borough would most likely be West Cornwall township-or maybe South Londonderry- NOT Cornwall Boro. Since West Cornwall also contracts their police coverage from Cornwall Boro this isn't a "revenue" issue. I'm assuming the blogger isn't or hasn't been involved with fire service and/or ems or the blogger would realize the importance a timely police presence can have on an emergency scene.
Thank you for making my point for me: I am suggesting that traffic law enforcement is the issue and this Ohio city found a way to address that issue AND generate revenue. It seems like it was a very successful move on that small municipality's part. I certainly left open the idea of thinking more creatively and less "traditionally" in terms of provision of ALL services here and I have found NOTHING that stops even Mt. Gretna from providing its residents and visitors with community services by utilizing a variety of tools, whether its via contracts with local agencies, purchasing its own equipment, hiring its own personnel, etc.
And, by the way, I served you and the rest of our nation's citizens for over ten years in the military as a leader of a platoon of ground ambulance medics. Throughout that career as a Field Medical Officer, I also served as my company's training officer. By serving as the example to my troops, I myself became a license EMT and became a part of at least three different municipal volunteer Emergency Medical Response units throughout the state. As a result, my platoon led the company in training, certification, and competency rates for years. On a final note, these civilian units that I worked with were much more remote than Mr. Gretna, and, at no time during the response to any incident, was the time it took the POLICE to show up a factor in the provision of medical or fire response. NEVER.
Doesn't the original post say that we could pay a contracted service provider--here, a police department, for incident response? I don't see where the original said anything about not having police response.
And isn't anyone curious at all about why there are so few, if any, tickets written(ergo, traffic laws monitored AND enforced) here? It certainly is NOT because there are no violations occurring.
It is more likely because it is not really provided for in the contract--the contract is for a VERY limited number of hours per week, and, well, nobody really has the budget to provide anything more than a speed-gun trailer occassionally posted on SR 117. But telling me how fast I am going over the speed limit is apples and oranges compared to establishing a history as a community that enforces its speed limits with ticketing and fines. This is especially important given that SR 117 through Mt. Gretna is a well-used route-- daily-- by bicyclists, elderly pedestrians, dog-walkers, and gaggles of fertile "joggers" pushing their cherubs in front of them as they try to stay fit.
You know, in the New York Chautauqua rules, they come right out and say that you can't do things like drive your car to pick up the mail. Its a "walking" community, and that obviously is to preserve the character of a chautauqua. Have we done such a good job of that here?
Motorcycle Sunday is fast approaching. On the 3rd Sunday of the month the Lawn Fire Company holds a breakfast, and beginning at 6:30am motorcycles will be rushing and roaring through town. The good news is that if you find by lunch time you are ready to kick the cat and strangle your neighbor, you are only having a natural response to noise. That's right noise. Once noise reaches 92 decibles our fight or flight instinct kicks in. A modified Harley can roar through at 100 decibles. It is not healthy, but it is real. Sept. 20. Mark your calendars.
As the moderator of this blog, I would like to remind people submitting comments to be respectful of everyone-including property owners and taxpaying citizens. If you want to be sarcastic, you will have to leave your name and take responsibility for your actions. Posting anonymously is really for those who have reasonable suspicion that they will be unreasonably attacked personally for their right to express their opinions and to share information about those in the public domain.
To Observer,
You present two very important questions:
1. What is the excuse for why we do not have transparency in our governing bodies here. (When my partner went to the recent Chautauqua Board meeting, she was certainly led to believe that that group's activities and discussions were not at the shareholders disposal. We have also been chastised for attending Borough meetings just to see what's going on. Both groups websites leave a lot to be desired.)
2. What have we done to respond to this "over payment" issue in terms of adjusting our expenses. Great question!
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