News article: “Numbers crunch: How can city and Manheim Township be so far apart in bids to police Lancaster Township? Warm up a calculator.”
Editorial: “Bargain Basement? It’s hard to say who won or lost in the Lancaster Township police contract bidding, but cheaper can prove costlier”
WATCHDOG: Three wags of the tail!
This is a first class job of reporting, with this second in a series providing sufficient raw data so that experts and amateurs alike can perform their own analysis. Clearly Associate Editor Gil Smart dug deep and burnt the midnight oil to generate such comprehensive and perceptive coverage.
The editorial is equally as thoughtful, posing the proper question as to whether Manheim Township has underestimated costs and thus underestimated in order to obtain the contract. The Watchdog has been surprised at the lack of apparent concern by MT taxpayers concerning the risks due to the huge pricing discrepancy—about $700,000—and the acknowledgment by their officials that there is no margin for profit (thus no margin for loss!).
We believe there will be at least one loser from this arrangement, perhaps two, and conceivably all three.
We also believe that the City and surrounding townships are all losers due to their failure to create a regional police force. Costs would be significantly reduced and services improved.
Thirty-eight years ago, Lancaster Township supervisors under the courageous leadership of Bob Fish chose the benefits of consolidation. But egos of officials in other townships fostered by a misguided notion of local ‘exceptionalism’ rather than concern for economy and public safety have prevented the process from spreading.
Fragmentation of municipal police services, county libraries and possibly other services is an inefficiency that needs to be eliminated if we are to properly cope with these tough times.
