Due to the structural budget deficit and the decline of tax revenues coming into the city, the January police academy has been postponed indefinitely. By postponing the academy the city saves money but risks neighborhood safety.
To be fair, it is a balancing act of what you would like to provide and what money you actually have on hand. However as I and others have pointed out, the city continues to spend money on items that are not in the city charter. In addition it does not require cuts in these “nice-to-have” items, as our core city departments have done in the past and must do again now. This is clearly problematic.
I think we all understand that a police force is expensive, but it is important to have fully vetted and qualified police candidates who provide safety and trust to San Jose residents. Other positions in our city may have an abundance of qualified candidates who apply, but when it comes to police there is a smaller pool with far fewer qualified applicants. It is a position that deserves to paid well, and within the limits of what taxpayers can afford. With that said, other city staff provide value to the organization and residents, but police put their life on the line at any given moment. One can be cynical about the old police doughnut-shop stereotype but in reality police are killed in this country every few days so there is inherent risk. (Click this link to see a report illustrating that fact.)
The problem with pushing out the new police academy class is that we are trying to keep up with retirements, not add additional police but just keep up. We have 80 officers retiring this year (some due to low morale) and the same number next year. It takes 18 months to get a police recruit out on the street. Our police force, much like our professional city staff, is starting to peak on retirements. There will be massive turnover in the next five to eight years for the entire city workforce.
This turnover is why 2nd Tier Pensions (benefits taxpayers can actually afford) for new hires is so important to do now. So by pushing out the academy the ratio of police to residents will decrease even more. What does that mean to you? Well maybe it is fewer police officers that are giving out speeding tickets in our neighborhoods. Maybe it is fewer officers investigating a homicide, rape or burglary. Maybe it is fewer police working on gang prevention and suppression. Certainly it will lead to more police overtime which is an additional variable cost that is tough to budget.
The Council has discretion to ensure that a police academy does occur now, as it only takes six votes. The Council in the short term could simply allocate $4.5 million from the anti-tobacco funds (Healthy Neighborhood Venture Fund) and designate the money towards the police academy for 45 new officers. We have $7.8 million in this fund that has not been spent and could be directed on anything the Council wants.
Others would like to consider using these same funds to allow for more affordable housing and others would like to keep the status quo and continue to fund charities/non-profits which are not in our city charter. The remaining funds could be part of the longer term strategy to hire civilians to swap out police officers from desk duty and get them back on the street. The Police Chief, City Manager and City Auditor agree on this as stated in the report linked here.
I cannot be everything to everyone nor can the City be everything to everyone. We have to make choices that inevitably have trade-offs and make some unhappy. I was elected to vote on issues and make tough choices.
Here is a link that summarizes the peak year, recent year, and projected year performance for the City’s major revenues. Scroll to the right for big negative numbers.
The City of San Jose Budget Prioritization Survey is still open till Feb 5.
PO Said:
“I think we all understand that a police force is expensive, but it is important to have fully vetted and qualified police candidates who provide safety and trust to San Jose residents.”
I am not clear we have any or ever have had any that fit this statement. So why bother?
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1305-francisco-pancho-villa
Poncho or Pancho, maybe you should go to the home of your cult hero (that would be our lovely neighbor to the south) and see you enjoy their professional police services. Your assertion is typical hyperbole and weak.
Recent press indicated that a large number of officers toil daily at desk jobs better suited to rank and file administrative city workers.
Is it sheer lunacy to consider closing down the Cultural Affairs Dept. and moving those 18 employees into SJPD desk jobs, thereby freeing up 18 officers for patrol?
I swear, if most of our pea-brained Council Members didn’t have hidden agendas, this sort of activity could become reality instead of fantasy.
I could not agree with you more regarding the perils of postphoning this police academy. Not only do we increase the time for one of these recruits to hit the streets, we also risk losing them to other agencies/cities that pluck them from our pool of qualified recruits. And not only do we lose a certified candidate ready for hire, we also lose the many many hours it took to vet that particular candidate. Talk about waste. And retirements will not slow for awhile. With the city driving towards multiple takeways in the upcoming contract with the POA and pushing for “more with less and less and less, etc…” officers eligible to retire are considered fools to stay. This approach by the city has succeeded in driving morale in the PD to what may be an alltime low.
You mentioned overtime. While some units like Homocide, Sexual Assaults, and Internal Affairs use the overtime they need, other investigative units are capped at ZERO hours overtime unless approved in triplicate. The message: If you can’t solve the crime between 7am-5pm so be it. The biggest winner in all of this, the average criminal on the street. The biggest loser, the victim and average resident of San Jose.
Neighborhood leaders had budget setting session Saturday and public safety was again #1 but does get city taxes needed so
Why are we spending $50-75 million year on mis-managed, entertainment and unnecessary services / events non profits rather than $20 million or less for only those non profits helping people in need?
Maybe because former politicians, family members and friends need non profit jobs funded by city?
Why is San Jose giving to $75-150 million to developers, corporations, Hayes Mansion, Montgomery Hotel, golf courses, sports teams?
We get little new taxes and minimum wage jobs requiring $10’s million more in tax subsidies – more required affordable housing thanks to Sam Liccardo, gov’t health, public transit and non profit assistance to low income people coming to San Jose for low income jobs
Why spend taxes on failed Mexican Heritage Plaza, $826,000
San Jose Repertory Theatre, $300,000;
Children’s Discovery Museum, $300,000;
San Jose Museum of Art, $500,000;
History San Jose, $875,000;
Tech Museum of Innovation, $1.3 million
If San Jose had lots tax money – All NICE TO HAVE but NOT top priority city services which have been underfunded for 1-2 decades
We are behind $400-500 million in street repairs, $500+ million sewer plant rebuild, $30-50 million deferred city building and other maintenance
You are soooooo right on!!! The city is in the business of funding all of the frills and ignoring core services.
Moreover, I believe the city pension plan is billions less that the now-required balance sheet reserve account.
I for one don’t plan on sticking around long enough for them to tap my wallet!
Roughly $50M of the budget shortfall is a payment to the pension plans to start to catch up to the obligations.
Assuming you are the same Pat Waite who ran as a Republican for a city council seat, how do you feel about your predominantly Republican counterparts accepting huge bonuses at banks that were bailed out by the taxpayers, yet hardly a nickel has trickled down to the average taxpayer who is losing his house?
You can rip on police officers, who happen to contribute almost 14% of their gross salary into their own pension, but don’t forget about your Wall Street friends getting millions from taxpayer subsidized bonuses who didn’t do a damn thing to earn it. Where do you get your figure that the city is putting in $50 million into the police pension for a shortfall this year?
> … but don’t forget about your Wall Street friends getting millions from taxpayer subsidized bonuses who didn’t do a damn thing to earn it.
Frank, baby:
Where have you been? You’re living in the 1930’s.
This is the twenty-first century. Wall Street (i.e., “Big Business”) has fused with the Democrat Party. You can’t tell whose working for Obama and whose working for Goldman Sachs without a program. They change chairs so frequently.
Where did I rip on police officers? I only quoted a number that the mayor mentioned at Saturday’s community budget meeting. Nor did I say it was going to the police pension. It is an aggregate amount to start covering for the losses in all city pension funds.
I am told by a person knowledgeable in real estate that the accomodations at the new city hall for our hard working, conscientious city bureacrats are really top drawer. Before the construction of the palace of government, bureucrats had to endure the privations of mere Class A office space. The move to the new city hall represented an upgrade to First Class.
Call me a miserly curmudgeon, but I fail to see the necessity of such coddling for those who spend their lucid moments thinking of ways to tax me and justifying their blue chip retirement plans and cadillac health care.
I spent a number of years in the service of the United States government as a military officer. Astonishingly, we were able to conduct vital official national business sitting on bare metal chairs at generic government issue metal desks sold to the government by the lowest bidder.
Carpeting was an unnessary frill. Linoleum tile was durable, stain resistent, and cleaned up nicely.
San Jose has a wealth of vacant office space in every quality grade from spartan utilitarian to lavish.
Any knowledgeable real estate practioner could show the City of San Jose how to save ten million dollars a year or more, simply by moving drones out of the city’s lavish temple of government into more appropriate economy class office space more suitable to the realities of the Obama recession.
The city could rent out the city hall space to internet tycoons or Donald Trump and at least get some economic return on it’s opulent white elephant.
Hmmm. The City of San Jose gets revenue from:
A. Construction and Conveyance Tax
B. Construction Excise Tax
C. Building and Structure Construction Tax
What do they have against construction?
Has anyone ever told the building trades unions that the more you tax something, the less of it you get?
This overly generous pension plan for police (and especially fire) hurts the City in two ways.
1) The direct cost to the City of paying the pensions.
2) The incentive it creates to retire early, thus creating a need for new officers whose pensions we will be on the hook for in the future.
How much would an individual need to have in the bank in order to earn $100,000 per year in interest?
Using a very generous 5% rate of return, the answer is $2 Million. So the City of San Jose is in effect cutting each retiring officer a 7 figure check.
Unless and until this unsustainable deal is modified, I’d rather pay the direct cost of living in a city with fewer police.
John,
For an officer to retire “early” they must serve at least 20 years and be 55 years old. This will get them a 50% retirement, or about $50,000 a year. The officers that I know who have served at least 20 years being a grunt patrol officer (not in a cush job) are folks whose bodies are pretty beat up from the wear and tear. Heart, back, high blood pressure, cancer, hip and knee replacements, loss of hearing and other permanent debilitating problems are common with this group. It is not fair to either them or the citizens to send out a 55 year old plus street officer against a 250 pound parolee high on drugs. These officer put in 13% of their salary for their retirement and are also not entitled to Social Security. You may “rather pay the direct cost of living in a city with fewer police” but our city has a police department with one of the lowest per capita number of officer in the United States. In talking with patrol officers they are regularly going out on the street with sometimes half the officers they should, especially at night time. I think we have a great bunch of officers who regularly put themselves in harms way to keep hardened criminals off the street.
Steve,
I’ll trade my Social Security benefits for an officer’s retirement benefit any day- my knees and my back too. Self-employeds pay 13.4% into Social Security and another 2.9% to Medicare.
“Retired” public employees can get a civilian job and quickly become vested in social security benefits on top of their City benefit.
Retired officers, if married, are entitled to social security benefit worth 50% of their spouses social security benefit.
Let’s pay police a good salary but let them save for their own retirement like the rest of us. This City’s going broke paying too many people for doing nothing.
John,
When the “rest of us” FIGHT and DIE for a living and that is part of the “rest of us” job description, you’ll earn a “cush” retirement like police, fire, and military. Until then you can crow all you like, it is FAIR and will not change anytime soon.
Well, Reality. All I can say is maybe you should think about a name change. “Denial” might fit better.
Mr. Galt:
I respect your views well that is before you said, “I’ll trade my SS benefits….my knees and back too.” If you are willing to give up your health for money, well frankly I have no respect for your views. When I grow old I hope I’m able to pick up my grandchild and play with them with all the love they deserve. Shame on you.
John,
If that is all you can say than thank you for participating, I accept your surrender on the argument
Reality,
Oh, I’ve got plenty more to say. It’s just that I’d gathered from your “you can crow all you like” remark that you weren’t willing to discuss it any more.
I’m afraid I expressed myself rather clumsily, JJ. What I meant was that after 30+ years of hard work, my own body’s pretty badly beaten up. It was my own bad back and bad knees that I kiddingly said I’d be willing to trade in.
Police and fire are far from being the only physically punishing professions. I just don’t buy the argument that they should be set above the “rest of us” by being afforded priveleged status.
Lord knows there’s enough divisions between people already. We don’t need Government making it worse.
Well you seem to think that a hard-earned retirement, largely funded by the officer, is some lavish appointment of a financially privileged class. That perspective is, in my opinion, diluted and apparently motivated by jealously and/or resentment. I guess the “rest of us” can carry on with our meager bonuses, stock options, profit sharing, and more than adequate salaries. And yes, all of the above will return in force, economies are cyclical.
Ironically, only after the tech bubble bursted, IPO gravy trains stopped, and this recession crunched budgets everywhere, did individuals like Gov. Scharzenegger start to target police and fire retirement funds as a cash cow. These “priviledged” retirements will remain for the foreseeable future. We can agree to disagree.
… or better yet, move to Santa Clara or Sunnyvale where fiscal prudence has reigned for decades. What possible draw does San Jose have at this point?
Why don’t you? You keep mentioning you’re going to. MOVE already!
Herb Caen was the master of “3 dot journalism”.
But Herb actually had something worthwhile to say.
You poor soul, do you have nothing better to do? Too bad you have no life. But thanks for the laughs, I appreciate it!
Thank you for the Mission City prop!
My pleasure – you folks have done all the right things for years!
PO,
I find the many recent murders in San Jose to be very frightening given the shortage of Officers, and the release of some 10s of thousands of criminals in State prison looming over us. We can not continue to waste money on feel good projects while children are dying in the streets, people are getting robbed, raped, and a million other things, whilst you Council members refuse to cut the fat.
It is so frustrating to see the waste, and to have to pay the price for the poor choices prior Mayors and Council persons have made. In the end at the end of the day, it is a no win situation all the way around. Something has got to change and tough decisions need o be made~
“…while children are dying in the streets, people are getting robbed, raped, and a million other things…”
San Jose has one murder thus far this year. Let’s not overdo things when simply trying to make a political point.
“San Jose has one murder thus far this year. Let’s not overdo things when simply trying to make a political point.”
A couple of things, one murder the first month of the year is one murder too many. In recent months there have been several. Several too many. And finally, over dramatizing? Give me a break here. Children were stabbed and shot whislt trick-or-treating by gang members! My friend was shot in the head and died during a robbery at a bank! People’s cars are being stolen, homes and stores are being robbed. I find that serious cause for concern.
We need to stop wasting money on feel good stuff like arts, events, and fund things that we can not do without and Police are someting we can not do without.
Sounds like that’s what you’re advocating.
A “Police State” is NOT what I’m advocating for, but you are certainly entitled to your beliefs. I’m sure when you or a family member, or a friend, or neighbor, or your business become a victim of a crime, you’ll see the light. Sadly, that seems to be the only way people learn.
If you are worried about gangs, then we need to have a discussion about illegal immigration. Solve the problem, don’t manage it.
Another nutjob comment. If you were to remove every last illegal immigrant from the U.S., there would still be a gang problem.
BTW, where was YOUR son last night? :0
Gangs said, “Another nutjob comment. If you were to remove every last illegal immigrant from the U.S., there would still be a gang problem.”
Thank you and well said.
And there it is, we resort to name calling when I would like to have an adult discussion. Illegal immigration is one of the sources, poor parenting would be another. Unfortunately, there isn’t much govt can do about the latter. Maybe you could come up with another?
…Actually I don’t think Kathleen is dramatizing the point. Sadly crime get completely downplayed here in SJ because we’ve won a few Safest City awards. Robberies, rapes, homocides, and child neglect, in fact, do occur in San Jose and if you see it on a regular basis or are a victim of same, then it is very, very real. While there may have only been one this year to date, if it touched you or your family you’d probably care a little bit more,…
The San Jose Police Dept is one of the best in California. Way better than a certain city up north on a bay! We are so fortunate to have hard working officers.
My problem with San Jose, is paying taxes for frills, like the hands on the airport. Why are our taxes paying for “airport art”?
We need paved roads, police, fire, not the many giveaways to arts, culture, etc.
My street is crumbling (in Almaden) and is returning from pavement back to dirt/gravel from lack of care.
John Gault
What are the ” Unless and until this unsustainable deal is modified, I’d rather pay the direct cost of living in a city with fewer police. ” ?
Unfair but Reality is that
Prison Guards, police, and Government employees politically lobbied Democratic controlled liberal Legislature and Gov Davis who got unfair statewide high cost labor contract pension and benefit plans which can not be legally reversed
So for next 20-25 years, public who pays taxes gets less city, county and state government employees, less safety and services, poorly maintained streets and parks and more crime and higher taxes until current prison guards, police, fire and government employees retire
By the way, there was a massive legislature, state, county and city senior government employee conflict of interest.
They recommending to Legislature, Supervisors and City Councils to both increase pension and benefits plans for which they benefited and not calculating the future impact on budget and government services
You are missing workable solution that Democratic controlled liberal Legislature does not want you to see or discuss
Reduce all state and city government services back to the minimum legally required services and staffing
Eliminate all tax subsidies to corporations, developers and others while contracting government legally required services out to non profits and other lower cost providers
First outsourcing is who caused the problem the prison guards
– GPS for all non-violent non-sexual crimes after 25% of prison term unless they repeat then back to prison for 100% plus 100% new offense – stupid habitual criminals get to decide they want to live in prison until they die
– increase prison industries / farms to pay for cost of prisons – everyone has to work full time plus they get new skills
Better yet. Take a hint from the great Ronald Reagan who understood the folly of having unionized public employees.
It used to be that when you got a job in government you understood that you wouldn’t get the greatest pay. But you also understood that you’d always have a job. Now public employees have it both ways. Job security AND great pay and benefits. I know that’s just fine with the ignorant masses who don’t understand where that money comes from, but when you do understand that the money is a direct representation of your own sweat and toil then you understand that you have a perfectly legitimate right to question how the money is spent.
I also understand the fanatical loyalty that union members have for their union. Talking to a union member is like talking to a stone wall. You’re not dealing with a human being any more. You’re dealing with a walking, talking, pre-programmed advocate for more more more- always more, and it’s silly to think you can reason with him or expect him to show you the respect that one human being usually shows another.
I don’t know the figure for the City, but the amount of money that the State of California spends to pay pensions has increased by 2,000% over the last 10 years.
And we’re not supposed to talk about it?
In case you are interested!
On February 2, 2010, the San Jose City Council will consider proposed screening criteria and community panel composition for the recruitment of a new Independent Police Auditor. The agenda item is as follows:
3.3 Candidate Screening Criteria and Community Interview Panel Composition for Independent Police Auditor Executive Recruitment.
Recommendation: Approve candidate screening criteria to be used by consultant in evaluating applicants, and provide direction as to the composition of the community panel that will participate in interviewing and providing input on the top tier candidates for the Independent Police Auditor position. CEQA: Not a Project. (Human Resources)
If you wish to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic, you may want to contact your council member in the coming week.. I also encourage you to attend the council meeting itself but bear in mind that members of the public are only allowed to make brief public statements (2 or 3 minutes) at council meetings. In order to ensure that your concerns are given full consideration, you may want to call or write your council member in advance of the February 2 meeting. To review the full meeting agenda with attachments, please go to: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/Agenda/20100202/20100202a.pdf
Attached is the link to the NEW Supplemental Memo by Avery and Associates regarding WHOM they met with regarding the new IPA hiring and the process involved. Look familar?
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/Agenda/20100202/20100202_0303sup.pdf.
Please read ALL memos on this issue on the City’s website, and send the Mayor and Council your thoughts on it. Go to the meeting if you can.
Christian,
Thanks for the link. It is pretty amazing the Police Auditor makes over $200,000 a year when you figure in the benefits for looking into a handful of complaints. Throw in the cost of the staff and office and the annual budget for the IPA has to be in the millions of dollars per year for looking into a few complaints. What a waste of money that could be put into actual police officers.