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Mayor Heeds Tampa Taxpayers In Making Businesslike Cuts

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

Pain often follows change, and so it is with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio's proactive plan to restructure the way the city does business.

Over the next six months, 100 city workers, mostly in janitorial and security services, will lose their jobs. For them, this week's news was devastating.

But for citizens as a whole, the move signals that Tampa's mayor has swallowed hard and gotten on with the business of making government more efficient and economical.

Iorio even has raised a third rail of politics - replacing the enormously expensive pension program with a 401(k)-like retirement program for future city workers. Given the clout of government-employee unions, she deserves enormous credit for raising an issue whose time has come.

Iorio is smart to get ahead of the budget curve, given the sputtering economy and more tax changes on the horizon.

Because of state-mandated cuts in local government spending, the city in June had to cut $20 million and eliminate 123 jobs, though 56 affected people found other city jobs.

In January, voters will be asked to approve a state constitutional amendment that would double the homestead exemption, but also expand the inequities between long-time homeowners and those who bought during the bubble. If it passes, the city would have to cut another $9 million to $12 million.

Despite initial concerns, Iorio said the June cuts weren't terribly painful. Indeed, they gave her a chance to make changes she knew were needed. But to make a second round of cuts, she said the city must rethink how it works.

Iorio identified a team of change agents from 14 city departments and challenged the members to help the city imagine new, more efficient ways of working. Led by the city's technology and innovations director, James Buckner, the changes announced this week promise to cut $3.4 million from the city's $353 million budget. And a new process for continuous improvement should ensure even more efficiencies over the next three years.

The team found the biggest savings in janitorial services. The city currently contracts with 14 companies to clean city-owned buildings, mostly recreation centers. The contracts pay cleaning companies between $1.35 per square foot and $1.98 per square foot. By contrast, in-house janitors cost the city as much as $3.28 per square foot. By laying off 38 janitors and reducing the contracts to a manageable two or three, the team said the city would save $950,000 a year.

Similarly, the city employs 50 security guards, but also has contracts with three security companies. The contract guards cost between $11 and $13 per hour, while in-house guards cost between $17 and $27 per hour. The team found that outsourcing all security services would save the city $355,000 a year.

All told, the Efficiency and Effectiveness Task Force found savings in 11 areas.

None would appreciably hurt the delivery of services.

So it was disappointing to hear the first reaction from some members of Tampa City Council.

"Shame on the city," said councilman John Dingfelder, who fails to grasp that taxpayers want local governments to shrink the cost of doing business.

Councilman Tom Scott says he'll be watching the gender and ethnicity of those laid off, a suggestion that women and minorities could be unfairly targeted. Better that Scott ensure a good diversity of firms bidding for this new city business. This is an opportunity to encourage entrepreneurship and free enterprise, while reducing government dependency.

Only Joe Caetano, who runs a small business, seems to appreciate the value of competition and the opportunity to create enforceable, common standards.

With her plan to change the business of government, Iorio this week demonstrated that she has listened to taxpayers who want city government do be more efficient and less costly.

City council members should not only keep an open mind, they also should join the effort. It's the smart thing to do.

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