A Run for the Money Slows Down a Run for Charity : Organizers of Library Benefit Race Complain of Rising Charges for Deputies, Road Crews

Three years ago, policing and traffic control for the 10-kilometer run that raises money for the three Palos Verdes Peninsula libraries cost $1,000.

Last year, that figure grew to $2,000, and this year the charges--which are levied by Rancho Palos Verdes for services provided by the county Sheriff’s Department and Road Department--are $3,500.

“We’re not running the race for the library, we’re running it for Rancho Palos Verdes and for the sheriff,” complained Ronald Florance, a Palos Verdes Estates city councilman whose business enterprises--Carriage Realty and the Courtyard Mall--are staging Saturday’s race. About 1,500 runners are expected to compete.

‘Over in Two Hours’

Florance said the 6.2-mile run through the streets of Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates--beginning and ending at Peninsula Center--”is not a huge race” and “is over in two hours.” He said he “doesn’t understand” how public services can cost $3,500, adding, “I challenge their figures.”

Taking up the challenge, Sgt. Reginald Cook, special events coordinator at the Lomita sheriff’s station, said police costs for the event are estimated at $2,550--for four hours of service by 15 deputies, two supervisors, two sergeants and four radio cars each traveling 15 to 20 miles.

Cook said hourly charges to Rancho Palos Verdes will range from $25.43 to $29.21 for deputies and $33.06 for sergeants.

He said the officers need a minimum of four hours to be briefed, travel to the race site, police the run and return to the station. The number of officers, he said, is based on the volume of traffic in the Peninsula Center area and the number of runners who have to be protected--both of which have increased since last year.

“We need a greater number of deputies because we can no longer leapfrog and keep ahead of the run,” he said.

Another factor in the increase, Cook said, is a federal labor law that prohibits the department from using reserve officers to police the race. “Reserves are paid substantially less than regular deputies,” he said.

Mary Thomas, leisure services director in Rancho Palos Verdes, said the estimated $1,000 Road Department charge covers two trucks, six men and six hours of work to lay out the race course with cones and barricades and to break it down when the race is over.

Florance said he wants Rancho Palos Verdes to waive some of the charges, or help pay for them, although no one connected with the run--Florance, the Palos Verdes Library District or Peninsula Friends of the Library--has officially requested help from the city.

Rolling Hills Estates last year donated $500 to offset some of the costs, but on Tuesday, the City Council put off this year’s request for $500 until the Friends of the Library are able to show why the public service costs have increased.

Palos Verdes Estates declined to give money for the run last year and was not asked this year. Florance said he feels “awkward” about it, but defended his city by saying that it “is not in a financial condition to make donations” and does not share in Peninsula Center sales taxes as do Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes.

Last year, he said, he “pointed out that the library is a worthwhile endeavor and benefits all” but abstained when the City Council voted not to donate to the run.

Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Douglas Hinchliffe said he believed his City Council “would be willing” to consider helping out, although he said the city already has contributed to the race, in effect, through Thomas’ staff time. “She has spent a reasonable amount of time getting it organized,” he said.

City Manager Donald F. Guluzzy, however, said he sees no justification for spending city money. “Sound business practice says that a user pays for services and it’s not fair for everybody in the city to do it any other way,” he said. “We have a policy of trying to recapture costs.”

Florance said that the $3,500 his companies are advancing for services will be reimbursed from race proceeds, adding that Carriage and the Courtyard Mall will each donate $1,500 to the library.

However, he said every dollar in additional expenses means a loss to the library, which received $5,000 from last year’s run after about $11,000 in costs were covered. The total budget included such items as advertising, awards, posters and personnel to run the race.

Counting on Proceeds

Florance hopes the library will get up to $10,000 this year. The money comes from the $10 entry fee and T-shirt sales.

And library officials said they could use every penny. Almost totally dependent on the property tax, the library--headquartered at Peninsula Center with branches in the Miraleste section of Rancho Palos Verdes and in Palos Verdes Estates--was severely crippled in 1978 by Proposition 13. The staff was cut by two-thirds, hours were reduced and the budget for library materials was cut substantially, said Melinda Bell, library district business manager.

She said $178,586 is needed just to restore services to the level they were three years ago. “The book budget has been reduced 36% since then,” she said.

During 1984-85, the last year for which figures are available, the district received $33,000 in public donations, along with $10,000 from a Friends of the Library book sale. The friends also have pledged to raise $100,000 a year to pay for a new $500,000 system automating library information and reference services.

South Bay governments appear to have varying ways of handling 10-kilometer runs and marathons. In Redondo Beach, the city generally pays the $4,000 in public service costs for January’s Superbowl Sunday 10-K, which is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Jim Graham, the city official who monitors the race, said waivers are granted by the City Council on an “event-by-event” basis for nonprofit activities that benefit the community.

Time Donated

On the other hand, the Kiwanis Club of Palos Verdes, which has held the 26-mile Palos Verdes Marathon in June for more than 20 years, paid nearly $3,200 for county sheriff and road costs last year, according to race director George Owens. However, Palos Verdes Police reserves and Chief Monte Newman donated their time.

“I think paying the county $1,200 for traffic cones is a little high, but I don’t think the sheriff’s charge is excessive,” Owens said. “They earn it.”

Leisure services director Thomas said that if the library used the simpler course Rancho Palos Verdes has established for its city run--along Palos Verdes Drive South, beginning and ending at Marineland--service costs would be lower.

But Florance said the library’s 10-kilometer route focusing on Peninsula Center has become an “official, measured course” and repeat runners have established computerized times that they try to better each year. “If we changed the course, we’d have to start at ground zero,” he said.

And Florance said that starting and ending the race at the Courtyard “recognizes the effort” of his companies and their staffs in donating time and money to put on the run.