{"id":1633,"date":"2026-06-09T14:38:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T14:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1633"},"modified":"2026-06-09T14:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T14:38:58","slug":"saratoga-considers-los-gatos-policing-proposal-as-dire-fiscal-situation-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1633","title":{"rendered":"Saratoga considers Los Gatos’ policing proposal as ‘dire fiscal situation’ looms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some Saratoga residents backed renewing the city\u2019s public service contract with the Santa Clara County Sheriff\u2019s Office as councilmembers continued to keep their policing options open amid budget constraints.<\/p>\n

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The city received an extension on its current contract with the sheriff\u2019s office through Sept. 30. Under the county\u2019s most recent proposal, Saratoga would have to pay $11.6 million to retain the level of service residents have enjoyed for last 70 years, which includes access to countywide resources, specialized investigative units, crime lab services and regional support capabilities. Currently, the city pays $9 million. Acting city manager Leslie Arroyo told the city council on June 3 that continuing to contract with the sheriff\u2019s office could materially worsen Saratoga\u2019s structural deficit and reduce capital investment, discretionary pension contributions and operational spending while increasing use of reserved funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight\u2019s discussion is not simply about choosing a police provider,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cIt is about evaluating cost predictability, governance, service delivery philosophy and long-term financial sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department offered a different proposal. Starting July 2027, the city could choose to partner with their neighbors\u2019 police department for a projected annual cost of $9.5 million with annual base rate increases between 3% and 8%. They offered comparable services to the sheriff\u2019s office, including patrol, dispatch, investigations, specialty units, records management, emergency preparedness and school resource officers. The local police department is also technologically equipped with drones, body worn cameras and automatic license plate readers.<\/p>\n

Monte Sereno Mayor Lon Allen spoke in support of his city\u2019s police department at the council meeting. Monte Sereno has contracted with the department for the last 30 years, and Allen said he had not heard \u201canything but praise from residents about the level of service and look and feel of community policing,\u201d and that they\u2019ve been \u201cvery pleased\u201d with their partnership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different,\u201d Allen said. \u201cA county organization with hundreds and hundreds of officers is just different from a municipal one where you count the officers by the dozens, not by the hundreds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Gatos Town Manager Chris Constantin acknowledged that the\u00a0 costs of implementing the partnership are unknown. He anticipated that both the police department and Saratoga would need at least a year to transition, which would include dispatch integration, records management, radio operations, hiring and training additional officers, acquiring more fleet vehicles and even setting up a substation to accommodate the new beat area. County sheriff deputies already have an office at the Saratoga Prospect Center.<\/p>\n

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While the police department prioritizes response times, service quality, community engagement and overall performance outcome, service from the county is based on purchased hours and staffing allocation. Constantin said a Saratoga substation would help make Saratoga \u201ca meaningful part of the partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Despite the drawbacks, several Saratoga residents urged the council to continue the city\u2019s partnership with the county sheriff\u2019s office. During public comment, Patrick Rupert, a wine shop owner, said his customers valued the quick response times and feeling of safety they get from being served by the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

There are currently 16 full-time deputies that patrol Saratoga, according to discussions during the city council meeting. To maintain current service levels from the county, Saratoga would have to pay for staffing for almost 26,000 hours. For $10.5 million, service hours drop to just under 22,000. For $9.5 million, the city would have to cut their school resource officer for around 17,740 service hours. Those decreases would mean losing 2.5 full-time employees per each $1 million reduction.<\/p>\n

Ryan Hinchman, Saratoga\u2019s administrative services director, said that even if the city cut staffing to reduce costs, it wouldn\u2019t efffect the most pervasive costs, like investigations and records. Councilmember Belal Aftab acknowledged that reduced service levels would mean slower response times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation we\u2019re in is not because of a quality of service problem,\u201d said Aftab. \u201cIt\u2019s a dire fiscal situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vice Mayor Tina Walia said she favors continuing with the sheriff\u2019s office starting Oct. 1 for at least a year, but she\u2019s not ready to pursue a long-term contract with the county due to the police department\u2019s proposal. Mayor Chuck Page asked staff to return with more specifics on a $10.5 million contract with the sheriff\u2019s office, which would be about 20% increase from the contract\u2019s current cost.<\/p>\n

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The Saratoga City Council considered a policing proposal by the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department on June 3 as they tried to balance public safety needs with service costs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSaratoga considers Los Gatos’ policing proposal as ‘dire fiscal situation’ looms - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1633\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saratoga considers Los Gatos’ policing proposal as ‘dire fiscal situation’ looms - 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