San Jose's City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the mayor's $2.9 billion budget proposal, which would cover the coming fiscal year starting July 1.
Mayor Sam Liccardo pegged $6.4 million to recruit new cops and an additional $5 million—savings from unfilled positions—for bonuses for existing officers. The San Jose Police Department has 140 vacancies.
"The $11.4 million will assist us in fashioning a strategy to substantially improve our retention of our best and brightest officers, and to accelerate the pace of recruiting, training, and hiring," Liccardo states in his memo.
The council has also received recommendations from the city manager's office, and a vote to finalize the 2015-16 budget will take place June 23.
Under the mayor's proposal, San Jose would also hire 14 more firefighters through a $2 million federal grant.
The budget proposal includes $24 million for street repairs, $3.5 million for homeless outreach and rehousing and $5.6 million for gang prevention. It also proposes keeping libraries open six days a week and funding after-school tutoring and job programs.
Word on the street is SJPD could be down to almost 700 Officers by years end . Officers simply do not , could not and would not trust this Mayor and City . They can take their POST cert and go anywhere else and be better payed , better Benefitted , and better appreciated . Also stand by , as the IAFF is currently working on setting up a standard that would allow Firefighters to do the same as PD and take their skills elsewhere
> They can take their POST cert and go anywhere else and be better payed , better Benefitted , and better appreciated .
The free market at work!
Right on!
If San Jose isn’t offering MARKET RATE pay and benefits for ALL police officers, this is the predictable consequence.
The dollar amounts for various programs aren’t meaningful without history. This year vs last year would give some useful context.