Cost Does Not Equal Value

Would you rather pay two dollars or four dollars for a gallon of gas? Based on the logic of some Eagle politicians and bureaucrats, you should feel much better paying the higher price.

Eagle will spend $1,092,413 on the Planning Department next year. So how do we know if this is a good value or not? One way to find out is to put the function out to bid. The Mayor needs to issue a Request for Proposal to see what kind of proposition we could get. Maybe its time we expose planning to a little constructive capitalism.

With new construction and development activity down by 50 percent, it would seem reasonable that things at the city’s planning department would be rather slow. Yet any suggestion of downsizing the department is met with cries that Eagle will suffer irreparable harm. This argument is not based in fact or logic. Now is actually an excellent time to considering downsizing and outsourcing.

The City of Eagle outsources its engineering, police, legal, and other services. Why shouldn’t we consider an outside firm to provide our planning functions?

There are literally thousands of planning firms in the country. Instead of relying on an in-house staff with limited expertise, we would benefit from a large firm with deep experience and broad perspectives. More importantly, these firms compete with each other to provide the best value to their clients.

Instead of focusing on maximize the size and budget of the planning department, the Mayor should be looking to maximize value for our community and tax dollars. Don’t confuse how much we spend with what its worth. Outsourcing could be an excellent value for Eagle.