City council OKs state money to help pay police officers’
salaries
GILROY
As expected, the Gilroy Police Department will receive $100,000 this fiscal year from the state to help pay officers who fight crime on the front line.
The city council approved the state grant Dec. 3 with the condition that GPD spend the cash on its anti-gang program and other crime prevention services.
Gilroy has received the yearly grant for more than 10 years, according to City Administrator Jay Baksa. GPD Chief Gregg Giusiana wrote in a memo to Baksa last month that the money is valuable to the department because it helps the city retain officers hired through a former state program.
The issue of state money paying a part of Gilroy police officers’ salaries intrigued Councilman Peter Arellano, who asked Baksa if it was such a good idea to peg local jobs to grants that might not come through in the future.
Baksa assured Arellano and the rest of the council, however, that it would be hard for the state to take the yearly grant away because jurisdictions devote the money to manpower. Plus, it has been one of the most stable grants since 1996, Baksa added.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr chairs the regional oversight committee that guides the state funds, and she will review the council’s approval soon before Gilroy receives the money, according to Giusiana.
Sacramento has doled out about $238 million for local law enforcement this fiscal year, and Santa Clara County received about $10.7 million, according to the county’s treasury department. Of that money, more than half went to county juvenile programs, the DA’s office and county jail operations.
Gilroy will get its money from the remaining pot of about $3.8 million. Most other county cities received the minimum $100,000 grant, but because of their larger populations, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara each got more than $200,000, and San Jose received $1.8 million.
