With police overtime spiking dramatically for more than a decade — last year alone the department shelled out $71.5 million in extra pay — San Jose will now rein in spending through stricter cost controls and the redeployment of some officers.
Last year’s overtime, significantly surpassed the police department’s adopted overtime budget of $26.6 million, with total personnel services running $16.5 million over budget, even after factoring in savings from vacant positions. This year, the department is again on track to blow its personnel services budget by $10 million to $14 million.
Under the new plan approved by the San Jose City Council Tuesday, city officials expect to see a potential $8 million annual reduction.
“The budget office and police department really dug deep into the data, trying to figure out sort of what is going on and what is the right path forward,” Budget Director Jim Shannon said.
The rise in police overtime costs has coinciding with a decline in staffing.
In 2008-2009, the city budgeted for 1,392 sworn officers, before staffing levels fell to a low of 1,085 in 2011-2012. While the city’s budget now allows for 1,172 positions, the city still has a significant number of vacancies.
Compounding the problem, the number of calls for service has grown from around 900,000 in 2009 to 1.14 million last year.
The problem has also been on the city’s radar for years, with the city auditor releasing a 2021 report documenting staffing challenges and their impact on response times.
The department has begun to lessen the financial blow with stricter controls, including requiring additional sign-offs in its investigation bureau, special operation unit and for community events.
The San Jose Police Officers’ Association also approved lowering the compensatory time cap – the time off for working overtime – from 480 to 440 hours. Because compensatory time is paid at the current rate of pay, officers who have been promoted or retired could receive significantly more pay than they did when they accrued the hours. The agreement also required that officers with time balances over 200 hours use at least 40 hours per year.
Other significant changes that could help drive down costs are the department’s plan to redraw its coverage areas from 16 to 12 districts — which could also cut into response times and provide better service — and its plans to redeploy officers from several units.
For example, the city plans to eliminate its police unit that patrols the Berryessa BART station. Currently, the city has a $1.5 million contract with the VTA that expires on June 30. The VTA’s contract pays for one sergeant and six officers, while the remaining six officers are paid overtime by the city.
“It’s something that actually I’ve been wanting to get us out of for quite some time,” Police Chief Paul Joseph said. “BART has their own police department, so I’m not sure if BART PD is going to take over, or if they’re going to seek to subcontract those security services out to perhaps the sheriff’s department, which does handle all VTA security in the county. I just don’t think, with our limited resources that it’s an appropriate deployment for us.”
San Jose also plans to return some officers to patrol that were previously part of the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team and the school liaison, canine, gang investigation, traffic enforcement and metro units, despite some concern from the City Council about the loss of some of those resources.
“I’m going to support what’s going forward, but I have to say, I’m disappointed in the traffic enforcement unit, because that’s the one department I think that all of us call regularly, or attempt to call regularly, and say, ‘Can you come out there?’” Vice Mayor Pam Foley said. “I think that’s the part that really helps us, particularly around our schools, to help reduce traffic or reduce speeding.”