Quote Originally Posted by Steve Reilly, Charlotte Sun
Charlotte County commissioners will take a serious look at privatization in the upcoming year.

Commissioners spent the day talking frankly about the privatization of county services.

Nothing will be sacred.

Newly elected Commissioner Bob Starr wants the county to consider privatization of the county’s jail, fire and emergency rescue services.

“The sheriff’s budget is a big nut,” Starr said, referring to the sheriff’s $59-million budget taking up 41 percent of the county’s share of property taxes. “The part of his budget we can have input into is the jail.”

Starr also wonders, too, whether the fire and emergency medical might be provided more economically by a private firm. Starr said the county appears to be paying high amounts of overtime money to firefighters.

Starr said that the idea of privatization should at least be explored.

“We’re spending a ton of money,” he said. “It’s our facility. Maybe, we need more firemen. Maybe, we need to be more efficient. But I think it might pay for us to go out and see if anyone has experience saving money and see what they would run our fire department and jail for.”

Starr added he wouldn’t want to see a drop in the county’s level of services, however.

“This is not going to be an easy thing, but it should have been done a long time ago,” he said.

Commissioner Robert Skidmore, also new to the commission, said he believes privatization of services and functions could prove beneficial to the county’s bottom line.

Duffy said she’d want Charlotte County consider talking with Lee and Sarasota counties about the possibility of sharing the costs with a regional jail.

The commissioners agreed the county would have nothing to lose if it asked for requests for proposals, since accepting an RFP doesn’t require them to sign a contract with a private firm.
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