COMMENTARY
MARK SCHUMANN
With a not-so-veiled reference to former President Ronald Reagan’s confrontation with the air traffic controllers union, Finance Commission member Glen Brovont came before the City Council today to deliver a sharp rebuke of the Police Department.
Brovont, who identified himself as a member of the Finance Commission when addressing the Council at today’s budget workshop, said, “Either we get control of the costs or we find a new Police Chief, or maybe we have to find a whole new Police Department.”
Though Brovont couched his comments in his credentials as a member of the Finance Commission, it should be noted that he was not speaking on behalf of the Finance Commission.
Brovont contends the fact that some 90 percent of the Police Department’s budget is allocated to payroll and benefits proves the department’s employees are overpaid. “It is the elephant, and no one wants to talk about it,” he said.
As it turns out, Brovont never spoke with Chief Curry about the issues he raised before the Council. Further, he failed to offer comparative numbers for Police Departments in similar communities.
If Brovont had bothered to establish that the average salary and benefits package for the Police Department is outside the range of similar agencies, perhaps his criticisms would have been justified.
But Brovont did not substantiate his claim that the Police Department’s compensation is out of line, nor did he present any evidence for his assertion that the ratio for personnel costs to other expenses is outside the norm. What he may be missing is the fact that police work is labor intensive. Further, with the Police Department personnel count down from 90 to 74 since 2002, there is an increasing need for officers to work overtime.
With a number of the city’s high-ranking police officers scheduled to retire in the next few years, a now top-heavy department will right-size itself, assuming, that is, the limited government gang doesn’t start hacking away at public safety.
For a member of the Finance Commission to come before the Council and suggest there might be grounds for dismissing the Police Chief’ seems unfortunate, if not inappropriate, especially considering that Brovont’s arguments were based on little more than personal opinion.
Indian River Guardian 
Apparently Glen Brovant is like so many other ill-informed people who are not aware that staffing costs in any public entity are always the highest factor. This is because government is in the service provider business and not an organization that sellls products to the public and produces a profit.
Glen Brovant now has the obligation to identify specifics as to which sector in the COVB organization is not aligned with the budgets of other cities in Florida of comparable size, Perhaps he is simply not aware that public safety is a 24 hours a day obligation and not just a 9-to-5 job.
Another factor that a member of the Finance Commission might want to consider is that salaries from city employees directly impact all other sectors of the local economy. Reducing payroll much further will negaiively impact the rest of the local community who will see a loss of customer from local people.