Apples to Apples or Apples to Pomegranates?

As the City Commission discussed the Willdan report on police services in Lake Worth, one of the topics that emerged were other Palm Beach County communities that had contracted with sheriff. Wellington and Royal Palm Beach came up as ones that could be compared with Lake Worth.  It was also pointed out that their PBSO contracts were for amounts less than Lake Worth.  Now we are hearing that this is going to be one of the bargaining points. 

This is an update sent out by Vice Mayor Mulvehill after the meeting on the Willdan report:

Well, let me help "staff" in their investigation of why Lake Worth is paying nearly double the amount in comparison to Wellington and Royal Palm Beach.  Let's review what the Children Services Council says about the City of Lake Worth, generally represented by the 33460 zip code.

 

Here is a breakdown by zip code of the concentrations of "at risk" factors affecting children in Palm Beach County.

Royal Palm Beach has three of the indicators that have been shown to contribute to children being "at risk." Wellington has none.  LAKE WORTH HAS 15 OF THE 17 INDICATORS. For a copy of the full report from the Children's Services Council click here.  (This report should be familiar as it was referred to in the City Manager's letter on the city's financial urgency declared in her FY2011 Budget letter.)  Many of these statistics are based upon 2000 Census data, so conditions are probably worse, not better, now.  I point these findings out since they indicate families under social and economic stress, which I believe has a positive correlation with an overall higher rate of crime.

At the seminar I attended on Planning Challenges of the 21st Century, we had a presentation by the village of Wellington's planning staff.  They kept referring to how their "village" was part of the "Sun Belt" economy - have you ever heard that phrase used in or applied to Lake Worth ever? Did you know that Wellington ranked 72nd out of the top 100 small to medium sized communities to live in as concluded by Money Magazine?  There were only two other communities in Florida that made the list - Coconut Creek and Coral Springs - both ranking in the 40s.  Click here to see the rest of their list.  I am pointing this out not because I think Wellington is great, to the contrary, but I do it to point out the profound difference in circumstances between Lake Worth and Wellington.

Wellington, as a municipality, is 15 years old and is the second newest of the 38 cities in Palm Beach County.  PBSO provided service there as part of greater Palm Beach County until Wellington went off on its own.  This is their police budget through the sheriff's office for FY2011.  It is built in a low-density suburban residential layout.  Many residential communities are gated, some having their own security. As of the 2010 Census, they had a population of 56,808 and a median household income of $80,283.  That's nearly one and a half times Lake Worth's population, but around three times Lake Worth's median income.  Their median income is above the Palm Beach County average; ours is significantly below.  Over 50% of their population over the age of 25 has a college degree.  I think we can agree that an inverse relationship between crime and income/education exists, generally speaking.  

That is, unless you consider people in Wellington to be "economic criminals" - the term used by javier del sol at the City Commission meeting on the Willdan report.  He thought that the economic criminals, in Lake Worth, lived in College Park or by the water.  I'm not too sure about the civility of that statement, but he was allowed to say it.  So far, javier has referred to me in a collective sense as a "Pilgrim" and an "economic criminal" - both of which were done during a public meeting.

Interestingly, Wellington nearly doubled their planning department's - what they refer to as "Strategic Planning and Economic Development" - budget for FY2011 to just shy of $1 million.  They're focusing on job creation, diversification of their predominately residential tax base and working on the creation of a Medical Arts district around their two regional hospitals.  This last effort is not targeting bio-tech ventures, but labs and support services related to the medical care industry.

I would be hard pressed to find two communities as close to each other geographically (the Principality of Palm Beach being an exception) that are more different - Wellington and Lake Worth.  Apparently the sheriff's office agrees.

Royal Palm Beach you could refer to as Wellington's poorer, smaller neighbor.  Here is their general fund budget for FY2011 which includes a line item for police services (PBSO).  It's about a million less than Wellington's.  Like its neighbor, all of Royal Palm Beach is laid out in a low-density suburban pattern.  If you look at the Children Services Council risk factors, it has a total of three.  Lake Worth has the most of any municipality in Palm Beach County with fifteen.

When I was on the CRA, there was a certain faction - the one that supports the current majority on the dais - that continually wanted to target those very low income households and attract them to Lake Worth.  I would argue that would only make matters worse as we already have a high concentration and we have difficulty addressing their existing needs.  One of those needs would be increased demands on the public safety infrastructure.  We are seeing that as well related to EMS calls - those without health insurance tend to utilities EMS as an entry to the healthcare system as routine doctors' visits are few and far between - tending treatable diseases only gets attention when the need is immediate or an emergency situation.

So we are considering another burden on the city to defend itself against crime and we are heading in a direction that will create more a demand for police services.  Remember this on your way to the polls, please.