EDITORIAL: In with outsourcing

Government at all levels consistently finds ways to spend more taxpayer money, often in extraordinarily wasteful fashion. So when our elected officials make a stand to save a few dollars, it should be duly noted.

Such is the case with the city of Henderson. As reported Monday by the Review-Journal’s Eric Hartley, the City Council voted last month to outsource its school crossing guards, a move that will save the city $100,000 a year. When school resumes in January, guards will work for a private company, All City Management Services, instead of the Henderson Police Department. Henderson will pay All City, based in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., about $900,000 a year for the service.

Relative to the city’s overall general fund budget, which stands at $223 million for fiscal year 2015, it’s a sliver of savings. But it represents a 10-percent reduction in crossing guard costs. Just imagine if the city council took a similar tack in other areas, such as park maintenance. For that matter, imagine how much could be saved if the city councils in the neighboring municipalities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, or the Clark County Commission, caught the outsourcing bug.

Kudos to the Henderson City Council for finding a way to trim some costs. Here’s hoping for more money-saving measures from our elected officials at all levels of government.