In many meetings, Leo Savoie uses claims of losing public safety employees as justification for charging residents more in taxes. This claim must be questioned on several factors:
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It assumes the Township has the right size of employees to begin with. Since benchmarking has not been done, it is erroneous to claim that we are losing officers the we may not have needed in the first place.
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The extraordinary high number of paid days off means that the Township must have more employees to cover the shifts that others are taking off. This inflates the need for a high number of employees. Reduce the number of paid days off in line with industry standards.
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Bloomfield Township costs for public safety averages $559 per capita vs. other communities with an average of $239. We are spending more on public safety than we need to or based on comps. Why?