Vallejo – Vallejo City Council voted on Tuesday to add another law enforcement officer, but revenues have dwindled, making it difficult to recruit for the vacancies the city already has.
The council unanimously voted to add additional officers during a mid-budget discussion at its regular meeting on Tuesday. The council also voted to move the law enforcement department from the police department to the city’s planning and development services department.
City Councilman Mina Loela Diaz said moving the department out of the police department would help attract more qualified candidates, and that having a fully staffed code enforcement department would benefit the city. Arguing, he lobbied the council to add two police officers. Income in excess of an employee’s salary.
“These people are bringing in income,” says Loera-Diaz. “If the positions are properly marketed and no longer under the police, we should be able to fill them.”
Law enforcement deals with whether properties are properly maintained and orders the eviction of homeless people from private property.
By moving the law enforcement department to the planning department, the city will redeploy some police officers, including lieutenants, to other duties. Planning and Development Services Director Christina Ratcliffe said the city will add new management positions.
The city is currently budgeting four law enforcement officers and one senior officer, but currently only the senior officer and two other officers are filled. One recruit is pending a background check.
City manager Mike Malone said he intends to fill all positions before budgeting, given that the city is having trouble recruiting the positions. Each will cost the City an additional $125,000.
Mayor Robert McConnell said he supported adding one more officer, but said he was concerned that the city wouldn’t be able to fill the positions it was already recruiting. “My concern is that we don’t know why hiring isn’t going well,” he said.
The council voted 3-4 against adding two officers, with McConnell and council members Christina Ariola, Diosdado “JR” Matrak and Rozana Werder Ariga voting against, but with a 7-0 vote. Agreed to add one more officer in a vote.
The position will be funded by reducing a planned $1 million contribution to the trust to pay off the city’s pension debt.
The city’s revised budget came under criticism from Jonathan Alberti, president of the Vallejo Firefighters Association, who said the mayor’s office ignored firefighters’ requests for new engines and other necessary costs. He said Malone had promised firefighters at the last budget meeting that the quota would be made mid-year, but it never happened.
“The condition of the fire engine is at emergency level,” Alberti said. ”
Malone said he discussed the matter with Vallejo Fire Chief Kyle Long, not with the union. The fire department was asking for another $6 million out of $6 million for him, which included adding his $1 million more for trucks and his two additional job titles. Malone said the city did not add new positions in departments that were not offset by removing positions in other departments.
“Midway through the year, some of the additional requests they put out weren’t able to fund them at the levels they needed,” Malone said. I will review the list when I do.”
Part of the problem is that the city’s revenue has decreased during this budget cycle, especially due to the cut sales tax. However, the city plans to begin collecting new sales tax revenue in April following the passage of Bill P in November. The city is expected to bring in about $4.6 million in additional revenue between April and his June, when the current budget cycle ends.
Taxes collected from the sale of marijuana have also dropped significantly, 21% lower than projected.
Verder-Aliga said this was partly due to increased competition from retailers in neighboring cities, although retailers also said there was increased competition from illegal sales. ing.
“One of the reasons I have heard from cannabis owners is that there is a black market in operation and a lot of illegal sales are being made.” On the black market? We can help.
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