Modesto mayor wants to hire more cops. Can the city really afford it?
Modesto Mayor Ted Brandvold proposes the City Council come up with a plan to pay for the city’s rising pension costs while hiring more police officers to help deal with such concerns as vagrancy associated with homeless people and traffic violators, including drivers who run red lights.
Brandvold laid out his priorities and direction for the city’s 2020-21 budget year, which starts July 1, at Tuesday’s council meeting. Modesto will develop its budget over the coming months, and the council will need to approve it and the mayor’s priorities.
It could be difficult to address rising pension costs while hiring more police officers, but Brandvold said in an interview the city must make the effort.
Modesto, like many local governments that belong to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is facing huge increases in its pension costs. Much of Modesto’s pension costs are for police officers and firefighters, which puts stress on the city’s general fund budget.
The roughly $144 million general fund primarily pays for public safety and makes up about a third of the city’s operating budget. The city spent $18.75 million from its general fund for pensions in its 2018-19 budget, expects to spend $23.64 million in its current budget and $26.4 million in 2023-24, according to the mayor’s budget priorities letter.
“As a City Council, we have discussed the CalPERS strain to our general fund budget without committing to a specific road map to absorb these additional costs,” Brandvold wrote. “... This City Council must take this seriously. The can has been kicked down the road so long, we have now reached the end of our road.
“This next budget year, we must put forward a clear written road map.”
Brandvold proposed at Tuesday’s meeting hiring as many as 15 additional officers. The Police Department said a mid-career officer costs about $127,000 annually in salary and benefits (including pension costs). Fifteen officers would cost the general fund about $1.9 million annually, and that does not include overtime.
Increased staffing in 2016
This comes after the City Council approved Brandvold’s request in 2016 to increase police staffing from 218 to 240 officers. But Modesto has never been able to get to that number.
Police Chief Galen Carroll said in an interview that his department fluctuates between 215 and 225 officers. Carroll said police departments across the nation are having challenges in getting enough people who want to be police officers and are qualified for the work.
He said the Modesto department is constantly recruiting, offers a $15,000 bonus to veteran officers who go to work for Modesto, and has a sergeant who works as a recruiter.
“This was the mayor’s budget proposal, which lays out his goals,” Carroll said. “Obviously, the Police Department and city would love to have more police officers, but how to pay for it is a matter for city leaders to address as the budget is being put together.”
Brandvold said the city was able to find a way to pay for increasing police staffing from 218 to 240 officers and believes that can be done again.
But when asked why increase staffing when the department has not been able to reach 240 officers, Brandvold said: “I think we need to look at what we can do to get to the 240 and look at what we can do to increase staffing.”
“... I think it’s necessary for our city,” the mayor continued. “I get constant complaints about this. I know we have trees to maintain and other issues, but the safety of our citizens is one of the biggest quality of life issues we have.
“We are not dealing with traffic violations in our city, people driving the way they want to and killing people. And it’s also about vagrancy issues in our city that we are not able to keep up with. This directly affects quality of life.”
More money for city trees?
Brandvold said he did not talk to Carroll about his proposal to increase police staffing but said he plans to do so and welcomes suggestions from the chief on how to address the qualify-of-life issues that concern residents.
Some council members at Tuesday’s meeting raised other issues Modesto faces, including finding money so it can do a better job maintaining city trees. Councilman Doug Ridenour asked whether it made sense to increase police staffing when the department has not been able to hire and keep 240 officers.
Ridenour — a retired Modesto police sergeant — is running against Brandvold in the November election. Brandvold was elected mayor in 2016 and is seeking a second term.
Council members voted 6-0 to accept Brandvold’s proposed budget priorities. Councilman Mani Grewal said the proposal would be part of the discussions city officials have as they develop the 2020-21 budget.
Councilman Bill Zoslocki was not at the meeting.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 10:48 AM.
