San Fran Ballot Measure:  Pay Cops $500,000 a year (not a typo)

Mayor Breed of San Fran is so concerned she is losing cops—and few want to join the SFPD, that she created a ballot measure.  One part of the measure would make the AVERAGE salary of a police officer to be $500,000 a year.  That is not a typo.  That is $100,000 more than the President of the United States.  The Governor of California gets $224,020 a year.

“The board voted 8-3 to advance a charter amendment that, if approved by voters, would offer financial incentives for older police officers to delay retirement. But it did so only after holding back-to-back special meetings to beat a deadline to get the measure on the ballot.

Those moves came after Supervisor Hillary Ronen attempted to spike the proposal last week by leading a 2-1 vote on the Rules Committee she then chaired to delay the measure past that deadline.

Critics of the proposal like Ronen argue that it could send pay for some officers soaring close to $500,000 a year.”

If accepted this will cause other police departments to give massive raises to their cops.  This is an economic disaster!

SF Supervisors push proposal to persuade police to delay retirement

By Adam Shanks | Examiner, 7/18/24   https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/sf-supervisors-ok-controversial-police-retirement-measure/article_6b924b56-494e-11ef-b490-b37c23d35045.html

San Francisco Supervisors went to great lengths Tuesday to ensure a controversial public safety measure reaches the November ballot.

The board voted 8-3 to advance a charter amendment that, if approved by voters, would offer financial incentives for older police officers to delay retirement. But it did so only after holding back-to-back special meetings to beat a deadline to get the measure on the ballot.

Those moves came after Supervisor Hillary Ronen attempted to spike the proposal last week by leading a 2-1 vote on the Rules Committee she then chaired to delay the measure past that deadline.

Critics of the proposal like Ronen argue that it could send pay for some officers soaring close to $500,000 a year.

“This is not going to be popular if we tell the voters the truth,” Ronen said Tuesday.

But backers contend such costs are worth paying to address the police department’s staffing crisis. As of May, The City had only 1,583 officers, well short of the 2,079 it is estimated to need, Supervisor Matt Dorsey said.

“We are not doing enough to staunch the bleeding of retirements,” Dorsey said.

The measure would create a Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, that would allow eligible officers to delay their retirement for up to five years. During that time, the officers would earn their regular pay and the retirement benefits they would have received would be set aside and accrue interest.

The authors of the proposal — Dorsey and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin — argue it is a way to buy The City time to bolster recruitment and bring more officers onto the police force.

Peskin and his allies on the board scheduled the two special meetings to overrule the Rules Committee.

Ronen has questioned the wisdom of the proposal, given that The City previously operated and then abandoned a DROP. Last week, she resigned as Chair of the Rules Committee over the dispute.

Ronen was joined by Supervisors Shamann Walton and Dean Preston as the only supervisors to vote against se advancing the proposal.

Ronen’s decision to delay the measure was unusual, as were the board’s twin special meetings to effectively bypass that move.

One thought on “San Fran Ballot Measure:  Pay Cops $500,000 a year (not a typo)

  1. If Mayor Breed can get the ballot measure passed, she will own every cop in San Francisco. The entire police department will get down on their knees and kiss her rump.

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