O.C. May Hand Private Sector Some Services

A task force of local corporate leaders has completed an ambitious blueprint for contracting out Orange County government services, and the Board of Supervisors is expected to take the first step in that controversial process when it meets next week.

The services identified in the task force’s report--which was completed and sent to the supervisors Thursday--cover the full spectrum of county government operations. They range from relatively small areas, such as tree-trimming and school crossing-guard services, to some of the county’s high-profile services, including the Harbor Patrol and the animal shelter.

Also recommended as possible candidates for private-sector contracting are several services at John Wayne Airport, including airport security and aircraft fire-fighting, and a few potentially volatile proposals for the Sheriff’s Department, including the suggestion that private companies take over at least part of the helicopter patrol.

All told, the list of ideas includes $81.1 million worth of government services. However, potential cost savings will not be known until after the county staff completes a detailed analysis of the task-force recommendations.

“I think the committee has done an outstanding job of taking a very long list of ideas and getting back to us with some recommendations,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, one of the panel’s most outspoken supporters of contracting out government operations, know as privatization. “I hope that Orange County will now truly launch a major privatization effort, one even bigger than the steps we have taken in the past.”

The report and its recommendations immediately won applause in some quarters, as advocates of privatization congratulated the county for having come this far and urged officials to press ahead aggressively.

At the same time, however, the head of Orange County’s largest public employees’ organization warned that he and members of his group have grave reservations and want the supervisors to move cautiously.

“We’ve had a number of employees expressing concern,” said John H. Sawyer, general manager of the Orange County Employees’ Assn., which represents most of the county government’s 16,000 workers. “They’re concerned that they may be losing their jobs, and obviously we’re concerned about that, too.”

Sawyer added that turning over government operations to private contractors can mean that the government loses control over them. “They’ll be at the mercy of contractors who bid low and then raise the costs,” he said.

Those worries are widely shared among the unions representing county workers. The Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, for instance, has called the suggestion that the Harbor Patrol be turned over to a private contractor “ludicrous.”

Recognizing that employee groups can be expected to balk at some of the suggestions, county officials have taken pains to reassure them that they will be consulted before any government jobs are eliminated.

Still, the process is delicate, and there are few guarantees that the county will be able to privatize all of the items on the list of 56 suggestions. Officials hope to concentrate on a few of the less inflammatory recommendations first before moving on to such controversial notions as a privately run Harbor Patrol.

“Generally speaking, the biggest difficulty that you’re going to face is the unions,” said Kevin Teasley, public affairs director of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a nonprofit public policy research institute that advocates expanded privatization efforts. “That’s your biggest barrier.”

The county also faces legal obstacles, as state law prevents local governments from divesting themselves of some services.

To address that problem, county staffers are proposing that the supervisors authorize them to meet with the government’s Sacramento lobbyist and begin drafting legislation that would expand the county’s ability to contract out services. That step is crucial if the county hopes to take on many of the suggestions in the report, said Paul Hegness, a prominent local lawyer and member of the task force.

“The Legislature really needs to act, but that doesn’t mean it will act,” Hegness said. “The most important thing that we found out, in some ways, was that there are a lot of obstacles out there.”

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) told supervisors virtually the same thing during a special session between members of the board and the county’s state legislative delegation last week. While applauding the county’s effort to pare down its budget by contracting out more services, Bergeson warned that organized labor would fight efforts to pass bills in Sacramento, and she offered no guarantees that much progress could be made there.

The supervisors already have expressed great interest in privatization, and they are expected to welcome the report next week. If they approve its recommendations, the county administrative office will have three months to develop a more detailed cost analysis and report back to the board.

Taking County Government Private

At least $81 million in services now performed by employees of Orange County government might be better handled by private businesses, a task force concluded. In all, 56 different services were recommended for detailed investigation. The task force was launched by Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez as supervisors struggled to address a growing budget shortfall.

The following are among the major county services considered for privatization. The list includes the current budget for the programs and the number of county employees working in those areas (county officials emphasize that not all employees would be affected):

Landfill Operations--Equipment, operations, landscaping:

Budget: $37.3 million

Employees: 277

Animal Control--Shelter operations, field services:

Budget: $5.8 million

Employees: 132

John Wayne Airport--Tie-down services, maintenance, security, firefighting:

Budget: $5.5 million

Employees: 109

Harbor Patrol--Law enforcement, communications, maintenance, clerical:

Budget: $4.8 million

Employees: 67

Custodial Services--For County Buildings:

Budget: $3.3 million

Employees: 98

School Crossing Guards:

Budget: $454,609

Employees: 61

What Happens Next: Supervisors will take up the list on Tuesday. They are expected to give preliminary approval and order a full cost analysis of each recommendation.