San Jose Mayor To Give State Of The City Speech
SAN JOSE (KCBS) - The need for employee pension cuts was expected to be one of the main topics of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's State of the City speech Thursday night. The mayor was also expected to propose huge layoffs.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
With the city facing a projected $110 million deficit, up to one quarter of the city's police and firefighters could be laid off.
"In the worst case scenario 349 officers could potentially be impacted by layoffs," said San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore.
He said that would mean half of the patrol force would be gone, and those roles would have to be filled by officers from other units, including investigations.
Police and fire can now retire with full benefits at age 50, but the mayor is expected to propose tonight that the age be raised to full social security retirement age.
"We are looking at a record number of layoffs throughout the organization, just simply to be able to pay the bills that we have," said San Jose City Councilman Pete Constant.
City workers who aren't laid off are expected to be asked to take a 10 percent wage cut.
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