Rosen and law enforcement leaders cited several agreements as well-intentioned but wasteful in a fiscal squeeze<\/a>, including a county agreement to fund a summer leadership training program for county executives at Stanford. County documents<\/a> valued the total cost of the agreement at $4.4 million over five years, from July 2025 through June 2030.<\/p>\n Another contract pays a consulting firm $1.4 million<\/a> over six years to find tree stewards for maintenance after planting. A separate county webpage<\/a> describes these tree stewards as unpaid volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of these contracts are nice-to-haves \u2014 good things \u2014 but are they must-haves?\u201d Rosen said at the Monday news conference. \u201cThis group has found places where the county can trim or cut nonessential programs and spending and redirect that to critical public safety services, including mental health professionals like the TRUST<\/a> (Trusted Response Urgent Support Team) program and prosecutors that work in drug treatment and mental health courtrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n County Executive James Williams called the remarks a \u201cgross misrepresentation\u201d of certain contracts, such as mentoring and car wash services for county vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cAre they seriously suggesting we stop deep cleaning police cars when people vomit in them? That we abandon mentorship services that help kids escape gang violence?\u201d Williams told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cInstead of putting forward misinformation about the work of other county departments, we encourage the DA and his allies to focus on the actual budget challenges at hand, which require difficult cuts across the county organization to close a $787 million budget deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams has previously emphasized that his budget memo proposes a net increase in DA spending \u2014 and that public safety remains the county\u2019s single largest area of discretionary spending in the county budget.<\/p>\n \u201cI and my staff have been going over all 672 pages of the budget since it was released on May 1. We are about to hold three hearings on all the proposals in this document, and we will revisit discussion in June,\u201d District 5 Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI think it is important to have those frank discussions with my colleagues and the public, thoughtfully and deliberately at that time. This way, everyone will know when to tune in and weigh in \u2014 and be afforded the same opportunities to be heard in a public forum.\u201d<\/p>\n Max Zarzana, a county prosecutor and president of the union representing attorneys at the DA and Public Defender\u2019s offices, said their public questioning isn\u2019t meant as a political attack. At the same time, the law enforcement unions have created a\u00a0website<\/a> calling out these contracts.<\/p>\n Zarzana said he\u2019s worked in the county\u2019s mental health drug treatment court for the last six years\u00a0with judges, social workers and treatment providers to get people out of jail and into treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cIf forced to cut a prosecutor\u2019s position, what do we think is going to be the first code on the chopping block?\u201d Zarzana said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be a homicide prosecutor. It\u2019s going to be people like myself who work in mental health drug treatment court. What are the priorities of the county? That? Or a contract worth $1.4 million to locate volunteer tree stewards?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s the\u00a0latest in a long-brewing political battle between law enforcement leaders and\u00a0county administrators over which services get priority. Rosen previously criticized Williams\u2019 budget recommendations as being made without his input. This is after Rosen already criticized Williams\u2019 full allocation of a sales tax increase approved by voters<\/a> last year \u2014 known as Measure A<\/a> \u2014 toward county hospitals when Rosen said he gained assurances that law enforcement would see some of the revenue.<\/a><\/p>\n Mary Sunzeri, president of the San Jose Police Dispatchers Association, said her department has tried to implement systemic shifts diverting police from mental health calls. County reports consistently show<\/a> more mental health emergency calls going to the non-police TRUST team than all other crisis support programs that involve police. Yet San Jose faces mounting legal pressure<\/a> over its lagging progress on rerouting calls to the team, which city officials blame on a lack of capacity at the county.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have tried to implement change in bringing TRUST out and sending calls out after we triage them \u2026 but if there are no resources for them to respond, I do have to send a police officer,\u201d Sunzeri said at the news conference. \u201cIt does create a bit of frustration and stress on us out there \u2026 when you have a family member who\u2019s called back three or four times because they need someone to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/interactive-321838904008.png\")
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