YORBA LINDA : Brea Police Contract Called a Good Deal

A study of the city’s contract with Brea for police service, as well as an analysis of how that contract compares with what other law enforcement agencies might charge for similar services, has found that the Brea Police Department provides a high level of service at an equitable cost.

Hughes, Heiss & Associates, a management consultant firm, conducted the survey for the City Council after Brea increased contract costs by 9% for the current year, which ends June 30.

The contract benefits both the city and Brea, consultant John Heiss told the council last week. By sharing overhead and administrative costs, each city gets more police service for the money, Heiss said.

The City Council heard Heiss’ report just prior to approving a supplement to the Brea contract that calls for a 7% increase in the cost for police services, bringing the total to $5,594,230, or up $366,893. Included is a wage boost of 4.2%. The supplement, covering the third year of the five-year contract, was approved on a 5-0 vote.

In drawing its conclusion, the firm compared the city’s current $5.1-million contract to what it would cost to contract with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department or the cities of Placentia and Anaheim.

Contracting with Placentia would cost about $5.2 million annually, he concluded. Heiss estimated a contract with Anaheim would cost between $5.7 million and $6.2 million annually. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department would probably charge Yorba Linda $5.8 million a year.

The study also looked at the cost of establishing a city Police Department.

Heiss said it would cost Yorba Linda from $6.4 million to $7.2 million a year to staff, equip and house its own 87-member Police Department. Start-up costs for vehicles and other equipment would be about $1.8 million, and transition costs incurred while the city was recruiting and training new officers would be about $1 million.