Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | In the April 14 article “Despite Mayor’s Declaration, More Budget ‘Magic’ Appears” by Rani Gupta, the mayor’s office reported it would increase revenue by new or increased user fees.
The simple statement that it cost $1.06 in fees to allow tickets to be paid over the Internet, at first glance, appears to be an attempt at studying the activity based cost of doing business at city hall. But if one asks, what is the cost of paying a ticket by having a city clerk take the payment, including the cost of all benefits, I believe the full story and the full cost of doing business would come out.
Remember, it was Governor Schwarzenegger who repealed the $4 user fee for paying to register cars online after the true cost of keeping a clerk at a DMV window or payment center was found to be $26 a ticket.
So can City Hall be that much more efficient than the Internet? And this analysis didn’t include the environmental impact of driving, using the mail, wear and tear on our roads and vehicles, etc. So it would be nice if the full story was reported on the budget analysis and the full cost of doing business at City Hall.
This is second year MBA stuff, and there ought to be lots of MBA student interns around looking for work, given the state of today’s economy.