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La Habra Heights workshop flags sheriff contract as a persistent budget pressure; council seeks lower-cost enforcement options
Summary
City staff reported five-year sheriff-service spending of roughly $6.3 million and showed the contract consumes about a third of property-tax revenue; council and residents pressed for targeted traffic enforcement, cameras and studies of private-contract alternatives while probing liability risks.
La Habra Heights officials and residents on Saturday probed how to curb rising costs for law enforcement coverage under the city's contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, with staff saying the contract consumes a large share of the city's property-tax revenue and offering options that range from tighter use of overtime minutes to technology investments.
At a community workshop, Angie, the city finance staff member presenting a five-year analysis, said the city's base deputy and additional sheriff services totaled about $745,003 in fiscal 2020-21, roughly $768,925 in 2023-24 and about $726,318 in 2024-25. She said the five-year total for sheriff services including overtime and extra services was on the order of $6.3 million and that COPS grant transfers have offset roughly $150,000'$160,000 annually.
Those figures led several council members to describe the contract as a structural budget pressure. Councilmember Stoeffler said the sheriff contract "is still a third of our budget" when measured against the roughly $2.5 million the council discussed as the city's real property tax base, and warned the city has limited ability to grow that revenue.
Staff and council framed a constrained set of realistic choices: continue the existing contract and look for efficiency gains in how the city uses allotted minutes; explore a shared or part-time traffic enforcement vehicle to redirect overtime minutes to hours when speed complaints are greatest; or, at the other end of the scale, consider very costly alternatives such as creating a municipal police department (staff cited small-city examples in the $7'$18 million annual range and noted Whittier's roughly $41 million force).
"We have to find another way to get revenue," Stoeffler said. "We can probably more efficiently use the hours we have, but that won't substantially change the cost." The mayor added the contract's liability component has increased and drives non-linear cost jumps.
Staff described the typical contracting model the city uses: a 70-hour-per-week primary deputy (a dedicated presence) plus about 30 additional hours of overtime/minutes for other deputies and services. Rafferty, the staff presenter, said the city gets the benefit of large-department backup (forensics, SWAT, helicopter support) under the current arrangement, which helps explain the high "bang for the buck" the sheriff model provides compared with stand-alone municipal departments.
Council members pressed staff for concrete follow-ups: a January agenda item to present cost estimates and sheriff options, and a February "capstone" session to translate workshop ideas into funding priorities. The council also asked staff to check liability and insurance implications of replacing sworn coverage with private contract patrols and to consult the Joint Powers Insurance Authority (JPIA) and the sheriff on tested contract language.
Next steps: staff will return with more detailed cost comparisons and proposals (including options to convert some overtime minutes into targeted traffic enforcement) for council consideration in January, with a capstone synthesis scheduled for February.
