Risch suggested that the council excluded parts of the department of public safety from being cut in order to avoid a negative backlash from the public, even though—in tight budget times—tough cuts need to be made.

Risch himself experienced a backlash when as a council member last year he voted to cut funding to public safety. But the backlash did not come from the public. As a result of his vote, the Public Safety Officers Association withdrew its endorsement of Risch during his campaign for reelection to the council and campaigned vigorously to oust him. He lost the election to the candidate the PSOA endorsed.

But what started as a comment by Risch—about the council allowing political motives to influence the budgeting process—became a face-off between the former vice mayor and current vice mayor, Dean Chu, who chose to ask his own questions of Risch rather than address the speaker's comments.

Chu brought up an issue from three years ago in which—due to a successful stock market—the city of Sunnyvale did not have to make a $5 million contribution to the state of California for the city employees' pension fund. Although Chu said this would have been key information for the entire council to have, he says it appears that the $5 million less in costs was never communicated to the entire council by then-city manager, Robert LaSala.

At the meeting Chu asked Risch if LaSala's action was a political move.

LaSala left city employment earlier this year after being placed on a prolonged "administrative leave" by the council, an action that prompted an outpouring of rumors and speculation about what actually happened to sour the relationship between LaSala and the city council.

Chu said that in talking with his fellow council members Fred Fowler and Julia Miller—who served with Risch three years ago—it seems that at least the two of them were unaware of the change in pension fund costs. Chu said he asked Risch if he knew of the change in pension fund costs, saying he wanted to find out if all the council members had been as unaware as Fowler and Miller.

Risch said that after reviewing his own budget documents from that time, he has no recollection of ever being told of such a change. At press time, neither Risch nor Chu knew what had happened with the pension difference. Chu said he is currently seeking information about it from city staff and is concerned that the money was not saved for future use and was instead used to expand the city government without the council's knowledge.

Risch's concern—that sparked the questioning from Chu—was over what he saw as the council unfairly favoring the department of public safety during talks of cuts, excluding many parts of the department from being scaled back.

"I think that, clearly, public safety is a service that—in the eyes of the public—is something that people highly value," Risch said. "But every agency has its limits. Every city service contributes to a safe community and a livable community, and every department needs to be looked at as a way to solve our budget problems."

According to budget prioritization sheets, the council has recommended cuts to several aspects of the DPS, including 5 percent cuts to training and support services. But Chu said after cuts to public safety last year, the Sunnyvale crime rate rose. Any parts that have been excluded from cuts this year—Chu said—were excluded because city staff or public citizens spoke up about the value of that service.

"If there were additional cuts in public safety, I would expect that we would have poorer safety performances compared to those of other cities," Chu said. "If people know you're cutting officers in the middle of a rise in crime, I think you'll hear screaming."

But the bigger problem Risch said he saw was in the council moving away from performance-based government as first popularized by former City Manager Tom Lewcock, toward a process more focused on getting votes than on positive results.

"Sunnyvale's reputation of responsive government was founded upon the principle that the majority of decisions can be made based upon factual, concrete and accurate performance data," Risch said.

But Vice Mayor Chu, who said he was reflecting on the past two months of budget hearings and discussions, said that a council member's feelings, what the public wants and how a service is performing are not exclusive of each other.

"Every council for the last hundred years has done that," Chu said. "Virtually every council member—for every budget—decides based on his personal experiences, financial expertise and the input he receives from the public."

Risch—having experienced council decision-making firsthand—agreed with this, but says it's the scale that alarms him, saying that it may take away from the objective, quantifiable decision-making that brought Sunnyvale's government to national prominence in the past.

"While there is always an aspect of decision-making that involves emotion, the level to which this is occurring appears to me to be unprecedented in recent Sunnyvale history," Risch said.