AUTHORITIES IN CALIFORNIA have hailed an unusual cost-cutting measure which saw one town sack its entire public workforce and outsource all of their jobs.
Every single employee of Maywood’s public services – including fire fighters, street maintenance workers, City Hall staff, and even the police – were let go in a bid to cut costs.
But while the local residents braced themselves for anarchy, the town has thrived beyond all expectations – with the outsourced work being considered far cheaper and more effective than their predecessors.
“We don’t want to be the model for other cities to lay off their employees,” said Magdalena Prado, a spokeswoman for Maywood – who herself is an outside agent working on contract. “But our residents have been somewhat pleased.”
Police services have been outsourced to the Los Angeles Police Department (Maywood is twelve minutes drive away, and would be considered a suburb in most other countries) which has easily overtaken the burden.
The city had suffered from a drop in property and sales taxes, and also from a chronic sleaze problem in the police department which was found to be “permeated with sexual innuendo [...] and a lack of cultural, racial and ethnic sensitivity and respect.”
Such were the problems with the police force – which still has $19m in legal claims outstanding against it – that Maywood would have been declared bankrupt had it not moved to dissolve the force.
One resident summed up the improvement in the city’s fortunes as follows:
Remember the Soviet Union? They had a lot of bureaucracy, and they lost. Maywood was like that. Now people know if they don’t work, they will be laid off. Much better this way.
The scheme may raise eyebrows in Ireland where public workers were found last week to earn more than their counterparts across the world.
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