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REPORT TO PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISORY COMMISSION
To: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Public Safety Advisory
Commission
From: Jason Simpson, City Manager
Prepared by: Brendan Rafferty, Fiscal Officer
Date: March 17, 2021
Subject: Police Services Joint Powers Authority Feasibility Assessment
Recommendation
Discuss and review the Final Report on the Police Services Joint Powers Authority (JPA)
Feasibility Assessment by Citygate Associates, Inc.
Background
The City of Lake Elsinore contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for law
enforcement services. While the Sheriff’s Department provides high-quality public safety
services to the City and many of our surrounding communities, the cost for contracting these
services has increased dramatically by more than 37% over the last ten years. These contract
rates are expected to continue to increase year after year. Based on these unsustainable
increases and projections, the City has been working with other contract cities to explore ways
to address these rising contract rates.
At a Mayors’ Summit on Public Safety hosted by the City of Temecula in 2015, participating
contract cities discussed the concept of forming a JPA as an alternative to save on public costs.
In February 2016, the City Council approved the City of Lake Elsinore’s participation in the study
to evaluate the feasibility of creating a Police Services JPA to manage services of several cities
that currently contract with the Sherriff’s Department. In addition to the City of Lake Elsinore, the
other participating cities included Coachella, Jurupa, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Perris, San
Jacinto, Temecula, and Wildomar.
On April 11, 2017, Matrix presented findings that indicate that a JPA could offer operational and
cost efficiencies based upon assumptions included in that study. During this meeting, staff
indicated that the next logical step would be to conduct a peer review study, whereby another
highly qualified consultant would independently validate the assumptions and findings in the
initial study. The City Council directed staff to take the next steps to conduct this peer review in
August 2017. The cities of Moreno Valley, San Jacinto, Wildomar, Jurupa Valley, and Temecula
also supported moving forward with a peer-review process.
Police Services Joint Powers Authority Feasibility Study
March 17, 2021
Page 2
Previously, the City Council designated a Public Safety Subcommittee to remain fully informed
on the progress of this project and continues to proactively explore all opportunities related to
improving public safety services and/or reducing the City’s costs. The Public Safety
Subcommittee has been very involved in reviewing services and costs associated with all
related contract services.
On November 12, 2019, City Council approved a contract with Citygate Associates, Inc. to
complete a review of the JPA process in an amount not to exceed $126,432.00.
Discussion
Citygate has completed their comprehensive analysis after obtaining a large current operating
and fiscal data set from the Sheriff’s Department. Citygate also conducted interviews with each
City’s Sheriff's command staff and the fiscal staff at Sheriff headquarters.
Their executive summary report was presented to and accepted by the collective study city
managers late in 2020. The study found and recommends the partners do not establish a police
agency JPA but rather continue to work within the Sheriff’s Department’s recent efforts to more
directly tailor
city costs versus unincorporated area services and general County overhead.
Citygate’s key findings included:
The Cities have been satisfied with police services provided by the Sheriff’s
Department.
The Sheriff’s Department’s revised 2020 contract formulas are highly
sophisticated and fairly apportion costs.
A macro analysis of JPA operational costs shows no savings.
The fiscal situation post-COVID-19 has worsened, likely curtailing the Cities’
ability to fund a large new agency’s start-up costs.
The summary operating cost comparison model of the current costs and full-time equivalents
(FTEs) versus a JPA revealed the following:
Table 1—Summary Operating Cost and FTE Comparison
Element Sheriff’s Department JPA
Total Sworn FTE 445.2 453.8
Total Non-Sworn FTE 215.0 215.0
Total FTE 660.2 668.8
Total Annual Cost $135,294,526 $139,056,052
Further, if only one or two cities did not participate in or left the JPA these costs would be even
higher than the contract or JPA estimate due to the need for a compliant police department
command and overhead staff expensed to a small number of patrol officers.
Police Services Joint Powers Authority Feasibility Study
March 17, 2021
Page 3
Based on the current Sheriff’s Department Administration’s willingness to research and develop
cost-control initiatives and given this preliminary JPA cost estimation is substantially higher than
the current contract amounts, Citygate recommends the Cities pursue the Sheriff’s
Department’s cost-controlling initiatives in-lieu of a JPA.
Additionally, over the next year, the Cities should request that the Sheriff’s Department conduct
an incident and community policing workload demand-based staffing study to further tailor their
costs to the needs of each city. This study would effectively be a Policing Master Plan per city to
include staffing levels, innovation, community engagement, oversight, and social justice/equity
structures.
The City Council’s Public Safety Subcommittee asked staff to present the attached Final Report
to the Public Safety Advisory Commission (PSAC) for comments and input prior to presenting
the full report to the City Council. At the meeting, staff will provide a brief presentation regarding
the findings and recommendations of the study.
Fiscal Impact
The contract with Citygate Associates was for an amount not to exceed $126,432. The current
expenditures total $90,003.27 which is split between the participating cities. The City’s portion of
the expense is approximately $12,857.61.
Exhibits:
A - Final Report – Police Services JPA Feasibility Assessment