South Bay : Redondo Beach Studies Privatizing Some Services
Redondo Beach city officials are considering privatizing their animal control department in an effort to cut costs.
A city subcommittee, headed by councilman Greg Hill, is also looking into contracting out other city services such as tree trimming, graffiti removal and street and curb painting.
Although the city has been spared the budgetary woes afflicting other South Bay municipalities, Hill said, the subcommittee is merely seeking to make the city more efficient and more fiscally responsible.
Under the plan, animal control services could be contracted out to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Hawthorne, which already provides similar services to other cities in the area. If that happens, the small, day shelter in Redondo Beach would be closed and the department’s three employees would either be reassigned to other city jobs or hired by the SPCA, city auditor Crystal Alexander said. The move is expected to save about $40,000 a year.
Alexander pointed out that Redondo Beach already contracts its after-hours and weekend animal control services with the SPCA, and turning over the entire job to the agency would merely mean “expanding the contract.”
Animal control officials and employees could not be reached for comment, but Alexander said the department is looking at ways to meet the SPCA’s price.
No decision will made, Hill said, without public debate on the issue, which is scheduled to come before City Council for consideration next month.
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