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Honor the Contracts

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Suppose a vendor with a three-year contract with the County of San Diego were to approach the Board of Supervisors after the first year and demand an increase in the agreed-to payments. The howling by the supervisors would be heard from Santee to Valley Center.

But that’s essentially what the board would be doing to nine cities if it goes through with a plan to increase the amount it charges for the Sheriff’s Department to provide them law enforcement. Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey said the county would like to get as much as $5 million more a year out of the cities it patrols--Del Mar, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, Santee, San Marcos, Solana Beach and Vista.

The county argues that it should get full value for providing police protection and not have to subsidize the contracting cities.

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That is true, but neither should it charge those cities for services that are performed free by the sheriff for cities with police departments, such as providing the arson and bomb squad and crime prevention programs. Officials of the nine cities and the county have been given two weeks to try to negotiate a new agreement that would forestall the county’s canceling the contracts a year from now. If those negotiations are unsuccessful, and the county feels it has legitimate reasons to raise the fees it charges, it should do so after the current contracts expire and with sufficient time being given the cities to plan for the additional expense.

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