So what are they spending their money on in Farmington? The police chief did not wish to share information on a story involving a 71-year-old woman who was caught having sex with a 54-year-old man in a car near a pizzeria and bar one night.

The chief reported that we could only get a Freedom of Information Act request for a report and that the report would cost $25.

However, it cost only $10 for a report out of Bloomfield Township on Ben Wallace's drunken driving arrest.

Perhaps Farmington could find someone to do the work cheaper in their office. Perhaps Farmington Hills could provide the same police coverage at a much smaller cost for the small city, which is surrounded completely by Farmington.

Farmington Hills police generally do a great job, and they have a very professional staff with training and equipment seemingly at a high level.

Now, over in Troy, they have all the tools and they wanted $100 for a video of a drunken driving arrest, but they let us film the screen for just $18. I don't know yet what I think about that, except they could find less senior staff to manage some of these more typical tasks.

When you put a dollar amount on a task, you open yourself up to criticism, very fair criticism, from others who can do the job cheaper, and in the case of city government, usually much much cheaper.