Gordon Graham here – and I hope all is going good for you. So much is going on in the world of “government” and most of these goings-on are linked to “money” issues. As I prepare this piece I am reading more about public safety pay, benefits, retirement plans, and related issues.

It all gets down to this. In order to survive, a business (or government entity) must balance “incoming funds” with “outgoing expenditures.” This is not advanced rocket science. You and I do this on a monthly basis – taking a look at how much is coming in – and making sure that our family expenditures do not exceed this amount. And since you are reading this on the LA Firemen’s Credit Union site – you know this better than 99% of the people you will see on the street today.

On the “incoming” side, government is somewhat limited in how they get funding – with the principle method being “taxation.” I recently heard a replay of a statement that Governor Schwarzenegger made some time ago about how many taxes we pay. His statement went something like this.

“From the time they get up in the morning they are taxed. They take a shower and they are taxed on the water. They get in their car and they are taxed. They get a cup of coffee and they are taxed. They buy gasoline and they are taxed. They are taxed when they go to bed.”

And you get the drift of where he is going with this – but there are dozens and dozens of taxes that we pay throughout every day of our lives to allow monies to go into the government coffers.

On the “outgoing” side there are a lot of things that government uses these tax dollars for. Salaries and benefits for government personnel cost a lot. Running the education system in our state takes a lot more. Our prison system is expensive. Our social programs are expensive. And the 800-pound problem that politicians do not want to talk about is the “illegal” immigration problem – and there are a lot of good arguments that they take a lot more out of the system than they put into the system. On that topic, I am not making a political statement – just an economic observation, as I fully understand the value of legal immigration.

So in order to balance things, State and Local government are considering “sale of assets,” layoff of personnel, releasing prisoners (and I see that some jerk released from prison yesterday in Sacramento has already be re-arrested for a sexual assault charge), cutting back on services, cutting pay and benefits and other “cost saving” ideas.

You can reasonably expect that these “cuts” will be strategically planned by lawmakers so that they “cut” in the areas that have the lowest probability of negatively impacting their personal re-election. That is why the “Social Security” and “Medicare” issues are referred to as the “third rail” – a play on the “rail” adjacent to electric train tracks that supplies the juice to run the train – and that rail should not be touched because it is “hot.” Since the people in the Social Security and Medicare group are many in number, and tend to vote at a higher rate than other groups – these issues have been heretofore untouchable.

Similarly, on the “incoming” side of the equation, there is a great hesitation to increase personal income taxes today – as frankly people are fed up with being taxed from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed.

So there might be a move to modify/eliminate Proposition 13 here in California – and they might get away with this because there might be more people who “benefit” from the elimination of this law than there are who benefit from it being in place. This will be interesting to watch unfold.

For years I have heard the phrase, “we will have to do more with less” – but I heard a Sheriff in Washington State modify this statement recently – “we must get used to doing less with less” – and indeed we are in a sad state of affairs.

Why am I wasting your time with this? Each of you can do something (multiple hands make light work) to reduce the amount of money being “spent” by government – and I am directing my comments at those who are still working in fire departments. Here are “five” issues for your consideration.

1. Fire Departments are paying out a lot of money on “harassment” lawsuits. Knock that nonsense off and treat people right. And along the same lines, knock off the “horseplay” stuff which you and I know is responsible for some injuries that get coded in another manner.
2. Fire Departments are paying out a lot of money on “on duty injuries”. I know that you have a “high risk” job, but most of the injuries come from “mistakes”. Get good at what you do. And when you are good – get great! Continuous improvement has got to be part of your life.
3. Fire Departments are paying out a lot of money because of traffic collisions. Know your policy on vehicle operations, follow the policy religiously, don’t let deviations become the norm, and remember, there are a lot of stupid people on the roadway doing very stupid things – so anticipate their stupid behaviors. And please remember the dangers of “fatigue.”
4. Fire Departments (some) still have people playing games with the “overtime” system. This was not acceptable when there was a lot of money flowing – and it must be addressed now. “We have always done it this way” is not a valid argument.
5. Fire Departments are going to have to extend the life of their equipment – so please revisit vehicle maintenance issues to assure that the vehicles are safe.

And please don’t forget the importance of “public perception.” When I hear firefighters bragging, “Yeah, I spend most of my day working out and watching TV” in a queue at an airport – this is not good. When people drive by fire stations and see $500K boats for sale with a sign on it that says, “Ask for Mike inside the Fire Station” – this is not good. And please keep up the great job you are doing with customer service. This is a good tool to create “friends” that may be of benefit in the future.

If you have any other ideas on cost cutting – and I know I have some smart people out there reading this – drop me a note so we can spread the word.

I keep on hearing that things will soon be back to “normal.” I think that is wrongheaded thinking – and that in fact we will have a “new normal.” The days of largess are now past tense – so let’s work together and see what we can do to balance things out.

Anyhow, I promise to be more upbeat in the next iteration of this column.

Gordon Graham
Co-President, Lexipol

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 11:10 am and is filed under FD Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.