Residents at the Aug. 31 San Jose law enforcement town hall expressed a strong desire for a larger police force. While this would be nice, there’s no easy way to fund such an expansion. City leaders stated that the only way to do so would be with a substantial tax increase, deep cuts to other city departments, or massive commercial development, such as the widely discussed Google project.

Money does not grow on trees, and I applaud the fiscal realism expressed by city officials. The continued annual cost of pensions forces us to temper our exceptions: In the current fiscal year, the city of San Jose collected $317 million in property taxes while simultaneously allocating $396 million for pensions. Rather than raising taxes yet again, I would suggest funneling all future increased property tax revenue from a potential Downtown Google development exclusively to the police department, so that residents benefit citywide.

Pierluigi Oliverio
Former San Jose City Council member