NewsArticle Critique, Tempe Arizona Week 5 discussion 2 response 2
After reading “Tempe Considers Laying off Police Officers to Cut Costs,”respond to the following questions:
- What ideas mentioned in the articles do you think willwork or will not work in cutting operations expenses? Support youropinions with information from a scholarly source.
- Who would you solicit input before making budgetdecisions?
- How do proposed budget cuts impact the trust in thecommunity?
Our discussion first, then the individuals response neeto tell the bad and good of post, list references
Dave wrote: The proposal in thearticle suggests cutting personnel and divisions. This will work asremoving personnel will dramatically reduce the total budget amount. Thefirst complaint from the public will be that the services provided are notmeeting their needs or demands that they have come to expect. The publicrequires services for the money they are paying (Mikesell, 2011).
The unions and employees should besolicited to see if they are willing to make considerations regarding pay ratesand compensation packages. The unions will want their constituents toremain employed and be willing to make concessions. The union leaderswill not be happy, but the goal is to keep their people employed (Burpo, DeLord,Shannon, & Spearing, 2008).
It appears that the cuts suggestedare in the specialized areas of the Tempe Police Department (Boehnke,2010). The specialization of services can limit the function ofofficers. The personnel and divisions being cut should be analyzed from aprogram budget perspective (Gaines & Worrall, 2012). This willdetermine whether the program should be retained based on the production andamount of services provided to the public. The public should be solicitedbefore all of these programs and personnel are cut, especially concerning theproduction resulting from some of their work.
Sales-tax rate increase will solicitthe public to see if they will support paying more in taxes to maintain theservices they are receiving. This will be a deciding factor in whetherthe citizens believe the budget should remain at its current level. The publicwill speak with the voice of their vote. The current tax rate will needto be examined and a decision should be made regarding the fiscalsustainability (Mikesell, 2011). This will decide whether the taxrate is an undue burden on future generations and analyze whether the trueissue is higher taxes or lower budgeting.
A suggested $10.00 surcharge oncitations will not be able to generate enough funds in order to prevent ashortfall in the budget. This may be something that needs to be added inthe future to address some budget issues. This project will not work andmay have a negative impact on the public. The perception may be that thepolice department is writing citations in order to maintain their budget.
A citizen survey (Gaines &Worrall, 2012) should be completed in regards to the issues presented in thisarticle. In many ways the article alone begins to sway the public regardingtheir perception of the issues. The dramatic cuts needed will impact thepublic. The departments making concessions may have a positive impact onthis perception.
References
Boehnke, M. (2010, January 14). Tempe ConsidersLaying Off Police Officers to Cut Costs. The Arizona Republic. Retrievedfromhttp://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/01/14/20100114tr-pdbudget0120.htm
