PUBLIC: Don't compete with private

In a front-page article in the Coeur d’Alene Press of Aug. 3, the city of Coeur d’Alene announced plans to buy $615,000 in chip sealing equipment to do chip sealing in-house in competition with the private sector. The city cites significant savings by doing the work in-house.

While in any case it is questionable for a public entity to do work for which the private sector is well-prepared, it is especially inappropriate if the public entity doesn’t honestly account for the cost, which they rarely do. Personnel assigned to a project must be costed to the project. (The public entity will tell you they are just reallocating existing personnel. The personnel are still a cost to the project, and if they can be reallocated, the city must be overstaffed.)

Likewise, any equipment used on the project must be charged at market rental rates, as well as any owned material. To fail to honestly account for labor, equipment, trucks or material results in a cost number that is delusional.

Some years ago during my time in the Legislature, a bill was proposed to require honest public entity accounting. However, the cities and counties preferred to convince themselves that they were saving and lobbied hard against the bill. Public entities should remember that the private sector pays the bills.

DEAN HAAGENSON

Hayden