Kroll vs. Police Compensation Study
The mayor, city attorney, city council and citizens of San Diego were appalled by the cost of the Kroll investigation. Was it really necessary to spend $20 million on such an investigation? Was the city overcharged? The mayor has retained a company to do a comprehensive study of compensation for city employees. What will the final cost of this study be, and is it necessary?
$20 million was a lot of money to spend on the Kroll investigation, but where would we be without it? We still would not have financial reports capable of being completed, the IRS would revoke the tax-exempt status of the pension system and the city would be forced by the IRS to pay tens of millions of dollars back into the pension system. The bottom line is the city paid $20 million for the investigation so the city could “move forward.”
“Moving forward” is what the mayor is claiming to be doing about police retention with his salary study. Mayor Sanders has allotted $250,000 for a comparison of take-home pay for city employees as compared to other municipalities. However, the hidden costs of this survey will far surpass the price of the Kroll report.
Despite already being down nearly 200 officers (10 percent of the entire force), a number that is increasing at an average of 17 per month, Mayor Sanders refuses to negotiate with the SDPOA to make any midyear adjustments to stem the departure of the officers. Instead, the mayor says he will wait until next year to do anything about the contracts imposed on the officers and their exodus.
At the rate of 17 officers leaving per month, the SDPD will be down an additional 204 officers this time next year as we wait for the compensation study and meet and confer process. Although not all of those officers will be leaving for other agencies, they will all have to be replaced (eight officers left for other agencies in July). It is estimated to cost $500,000 to train a journeyman officer, which equates to $102 million in training expenses to the city just to maintain our current critically understaffed levels, let alone filling the nearly 200 vacant positions. For the sake of argument, should you only count the officers leaving for other agencies, the cost is $48 million (in addition to the $36 million for the 72 officers that went to other agencies last year). Either way you look at it, the cost far exceeds the tab for the Kroll report.
Matt Dobbs
El Cajon
(Mr. Dobbs is a San Diego Police officer with Western Division, headquarterd in Bay Park.)
New bus quick, inexpensive and easy
Kudos to the MTS in establishing the terminus of the Airport Flyer Bus, route 992, in the Gaslamp at Fourth and K adjacent to the Martin Luther King linear park and across from the Convention Center. With service at 15-minute intervals from 5 a.m. to midnight, this bus is not only a quick and inexpensive way to reach the airport, it is also an easy way to connect to the long distant city bus lines that run along Market Street and Broadway. Route 992 is the first bus route that goes south of Market into the Gaslamp/Convention Center/Petco Park area. Before the creation of this bus stop/terminus, it was a 5 to 10 block walk upo to Horton Plaza, Broadway and our downtown center.
With car parking getting increasingly difficult in the Gaslamp/Petco Park area, it is important to add more public transit stops. The trolley is not enough. Now what is needed is the once-planned pedestrian bridge at Fourth Avenue from the Convention Center across harbor Drive and the railiroad/trolley tracks to connect to this new bus stop.
Jim Dietz
Centro
