Editor’s Note: Jim Unland is a sergeant in the San Jose Police Department and president of the Police Officers Association. He wrote this column for San Jose Inside.

Good news has been hard to come by as of late. That is until yesterday. The city of San Jose Police and Fire Retirement Board voted yesterday to accept the plan actuary recommendations on pension costs for next year. And surprise, surprise, pension costs shrank to the tune of $55 million in the police and fire plan. That’s not a typo—$55 million will come off the projected budget deficit as a result of pay and concessions and concessions agreed to by police officers and firefighters.

With many people rushing off for Thanksgiving last week, the Police Officers Association came out with a surprising announcement that George Beattie, the union president, was retiring from his POA position. Beattie, a lieutenant with the San Jose Police Department, has never been a fan of the media, so he didn’t give an interview in the Mercury News’ report. But his successor, Sgt. Jim Unland, who was previously vice president of the POA, was quoted as saying that negotiations with the city over pension reform are still proceeding “one day at a time.”

Editor’s Note: Jim Unland is a sergeant in the San Jose Police Department and vice president of the Police Officers Association. He wrote this column for San Jose Inside.

Last week the nationally renowned criminologist Chuck Reed said, “There’s nobody that seems to think that there’s a direct connection between the number of officers and the number of homicides.” However, Mayor Reed has also said that gang homicides can be prevented. Every time he says that the number of officers doesn’t matter with regards to the homicide rate, he demonstrates his ignorance as to how the San Jose PD has kept its citizens safe for so many years.

Five public employee unions in San Jose put forward a pension reform proposal Tuesday that they estimate will save the city $467 million during the next five years. The unions represent police officers, firefighters, architects, engineers, middle managers and maintenance supervisors.

A recent NBC Bay Area report on the increase in prostitution downtown—and the disbanding of the city’s vice squad—has gone viral, and spawned a Twitter debate over the cause. Protect San Jose, a blog run by the police union, Tweeted that city manager Deb Figone was to blame for the downtown hookers, drawing a response from Daily Fetch, an anonymous political blog.

Campaigning against Measures V&W last November, police union leader George Beattie issued numerous thinly-veiled warnings: If San Jose voters allowed the city to renegotiate contracts with cops and firefighters, he said, people might die. That strategy failed—V&W passed with an almost 80 percent majority—but Beattie is sticking to his guns.

City manager Debra Figone didn’t let the police get the last word of the fiscal year regarding contentious labor negotiations and first layoffs of officers for the first time in the city’s history. On Thursday, she sent a memo to the mayor and city council countering an op-ed written by Police Officers Association president George Beattie, which blamed city officials for the layoffs of 70 officers.

It’s the final day of the fiscal year, which means many people who work for the county and city will be out of a job starting tomorrow. It also means lawsuits are on the way.

After a week of tension as members of the San Jose Police Officers Association voted to accept or decline cuts in pay, benefits and retirement—and in effect save the jobs of 156 officers, San Jose cops agreed to concessions by a 674-429 vote. The City Council unanimously approved the terms of the agreement on Tuesday. However, roughly 100 officers are still expected to be laid off.

The City Council will convene as usual Tuesday, but the meeting is expected to start earlier than 1:30pm—possibly before noon—because of the numerous items on the agenda. The most notable issue at hand will be finalizing the mayor’s budget message for approval at the June 21 session. Memos from several councilmembers will likely cause quite a debate.

UPDATED: When Alex Gurza gives an update on labor negotiations to the City Council on Tuesday, he’ll have some explaining to do about pension reform negotiations. City officials refused to discuss pension reform on Friday with unions so they could focus on language for a ballot measure. Union representatives responded by walking out. On Monday, Gurza said he was sorry and his office asked the unions to come back to the bargaining table.

On Friday, Mayor Chuck Reed released his June Budget Message, which included his final recommendations for closing the City of San Jose’s $115 million budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year and preliminary strategies designed to avoid further service cuts in 2012.

Just when it looked like all hope was lost for the city and the police union to come to an agreement in negotiations over pay cuts and pension reform, a tentative deal was reached Thursday night.

The gloves have officially come off in labor negotiations between the city and public employee unions, and whispers of potential strikes are being heard in certain City Hall corners. On Tuesday, the City Council imposed 10 percent cuts in total compensation for four unions by an 8-3 vote. The cuts in pay and benefits will affect more than half of the city of San Jose’s employees.

City Manager Debra Figone passed on applying for a grant that would have saved the jobs of more than a few dozen San Jose police officers but included some significant costs. Members of the Police Officers Association were surprised by the move, and they weren’t the only ones. It seems Figone did not consult the City Council on her decision to pass on applying for the largest possible grant.

The Police Officers Association announced Friday that its members would accept a one-time 10 percent cut in pay and benefits for the coming year. Union leaders cast the move as a generous proposal that would save jobs. Mayor Chuck Reed immediately called the offer inadequate, and warned that it came dangerously late in the game.