Who among us, when faced with higher costs for a particular good or service, simply forks over more cash for the same thing without complaint? The City of Duluth, for one, has done this very thing. Specifically, the City of Duluth Fire Department, according to the Minnesota State Auditor, is the most expensive fire department per citizen in the State of Minnesota. To be sure we need a good fire department and we want to see the fire department come whenever there is a medical emergency or in response to a fire. Yet, without competition there is no need to make it better, make it cheaper, or make it faster.

In comparison, the best thing that ever happened to General Motors is that Toyota has gotten so good. Currently, GM is having the life squeezed out of it because Toyota saw its weakness and exploited it. GM’s weakness stemmed from inflexibility, guaranteed jobs, and high health care costs, which essentially hobbled them and broke down their ability to be innovative. Toyota has been as strong as garlic and persistent as death in working to beat GM – without a GM miracle, it looks like Toyota will overtake GM this year because Toyota has made it better, cheaper, and faster. Ask any Toyota owner: most would buy another one when they finally wear out the one they currently own.

The fire department is not General Motors and we don’t rely upon GM to save lives. Yet, when we look at the fire department, there has to be ways to make them better, cheaper, and faster. Simply put: the city can no longer afford to pay for premium lifetime health benefits at no cost to retired firefighters and their families, nor can we guarantee firefighters an absolute right to not being laid off. GM tried both and essentially went broke. Now, Toyota is eating their lunch.

Mayor Bergson stated recently that he would be the most hated man in the city if he could solve the problems of retiree health care. I am not one to wish hate upon anyone, but in this case, we’ll all benefit if Mayor Bergson can solve this problem. For if he doesn’t, our city will either face insolvency, our citizens will pay enormous tax bills, or we’ll end up having a private fire department because we’ll be forced to make it better, cheaper, and faster. Unless the fire fighters budge, expect huge changes – none of them good.