San Juan to Pay $70,343 More for Police Services Next Year

for sheriff's deputies who work in San Juan Capistrano will be nearly entirely offset next year by and other overhead costs.

The city will pay 0.99 percent more—equal to $70,343—into contract with the Orange County Sheriff's Department for police services. In total, the contract will cost roughly $7.21 million.

Additionally, sworn employees, who are currently contributing 3 percent toward the  will begin contributing 5 percent, effective October 2011. This results in an employee contribution rate of 4.46 percent in fiscal year 2011-12.

Contracts to provide police services to 11 cities were approved Tuesday by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, whose purview includes the Sheriff's Department.

Eight of those cities will see their costs rise—as high as 2.71 percent in Villa Park. Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo and Stanton will actually see a drop in the price of their contracts, mostly due to eliminated positions or overtime for special services.

Supervisor Shawn Nelson suggested other cities consider hiring the Sheriff's Department. He cited an unnamed city in his district that was spending $10 million a year for its own police department, but said comparably sized cities in South County hired the Sheriff's Department to do the job for just $6 million.

For its $7.21 million, San Juan will get one lieutenant who will serve as the chief of police services. He will supervise four sergeants, 16 patrol deputies at 80 hours per two-week pay period each, one deputy for special enforcement, three motorcycle deputies, one deputy for a community support unit, two investigators and two community services officers for parking control.

When discussing next year's budget, the City Council has debated whether to stop paying for the special enforcement officer who works primarily with youths on school campuses.

and current said they would like to ask the Capistrano Unified School District to pay the deputy's salary.

Chief of Police said that if the city were to eliminate its funding for that position, it would be one of only two in the county to do so. "His presence is integral," Meyer said, explaining that if even if the council were to eliminate the position, he'd find a way to fill it.

Earlier this year, , the deputy who fills the special position known as the "school resource officer," was named the city's officer of the year for his commitment to getting troubled youths on the right path.

The city of San Juan Capistrano has been contracting with the county for the sheriff to provide law enforcement services since 1961.