Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Deputy Ted Atlas, Saratoga's school resource officer, chats with Saratoga High School students. The City Council says it can no longer fund the position full time.

Saratoga City Council chops jobs at City Hall

First budget cuts may include resource officer

By Sarah Lombardo

After months of workshops and town hall meetings, the City Council has made the first cut in its struggle to reduce the city's budget and approved a proposal to eliminate almost 12 jobs at City Hall. The plan, first introduced to the council in March and approved April 22, creates a little over five new positions, reducing city staff from 54.75 full-time equivalent positions to 48.05.

The plan was approved without much council discussion, which Interim City Manager Larry Perlin said was the sign that the plan was a good one. "We presented the council with the best plan, and I think they saw that," he said.

The positions eliminated include the community development director, a codes administrator, a maintenance superintendent, a community services officer, an associate planner, an assistant planner, a building inspector, two part-time receptionists, a park maintenence worker, a senior clerk typist, a volunteer coordinator and an assistant to the city manager. The positions of Japanese garden caretaker and a garden specialist were eliminated in anticipation of the Hakone Foundation taking over the management of Hakone Gardens, Saratoga's Japanese gardens, later this year. It is estimated the staff reorganization will save the city about $426,000 in salaries and benefits.

With the final approval of the plan, city officials will begin the arduous task of implementing the reorganization. But other money-saving plans set in motion by the council have come to a halt: The council voted to cut back on the School Resource Officer (SRO) program, making it a part-time program, but has been told by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department that the program is not available on a part-time basis.

"What we're finding out is that we have to purchase a full-time SRO," Perlin said. "Unless the schools come up with fully half of the money [for the program], the City Council is going to have to decide to either make up the full amount or not have the program."

The program was created almost five years ago in Saratoga and strives to create an amicable and open relationship between the Sheriff's Department and local teens through the school resource officer. Some problems on campus are handled by the officer, currently Deputy Ted Atlas, who makes regular visits to the campus and talks with students.

The SRO program, Perlin said, can cost up to $103,000 for a full year.

Staff had recommended that the council fund the SRO program in much the same way it funded the reopening of the Warner Hutton House teen center last year, with the council putting up half the money for the first half of the school year and the schools providing funding for the last half. The council opted instead to use what money they had for the program at this point and pare the program down to fit the funding.

"I would like to suggest we bite the bullet now and decide how many days a week we can have an SRO out there," Mayor Gillian Moran told the council. "I'm more inclined to decide what it is that we can afford now."

But Perlin said it can't work that way. "We have to commit up front."

For the program to continue, Perlin said the schools would have to pledge about $56,000, or the city would have to budget it. So far, the schools--which include the Campbell Union, Cupertino Union, Saratoga Union, Campbell Union High School and the Los Gatos-Saratoga High School districts--have pledged almost $25,000 toward the continuation of the SRO program. Perlin said he hopes the schools can find more funding for it, because the council might not.

"It's one of those things that you wish the schools would see the benefit of," he said. "But they might be thinking that it's a public safety thing. Overall, I think the SRO program is beneficial and worthwhile, but when you're facing a tough budget time, it certainly is not a necessary function. ... It's too bad that there isn't any flexibility to purchase less than a full year."

Perlin said he plans to meet with Capt. Robert Wilson, of the sheriff's Westside Substation, to discuss the issue.

The funding for Saratoga's crossing guards, Perlin said, will not need any more discussion. The council's plan to fund half of the cost for four crossing guards for a full school year and to rely on the schools to fund the other half is a go-ahead. And the schools have answered the call, pledging almost half of the $23,000 needed for the guards.

The first cut in the budget and the reorganization of City Hall will represent a change in service for residents. A report to the council from the city manager's office states that the impacts of the reorganization of the city could include reduced counter hours in the Planning Department less regulation of zoning ordinances, slower responses to zoning ordinance violation complaints, planning fee increases of 10 percent, recreation fee increases of between 5 and 10 percent, a reduction in volunteer coordination and a concentration on volunteer services that support staff and the elimination of clerks who record City Council and commission meeting minutes.

How will this affect the average Saratoga resident?

"It's really difficult to say because I think every average resident has a different interaction with City Hall," said administrative analyst Irene Jacobs.

"I think overall, you're just going to have fewer people working harder. I think that those people who walk into City Hall for the first time may not notice anything, but people who are used to dealing with City Hall in a certain way may notice the changes."

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