Three members of the Santa Monica City Council voted against a new contract with the Santa Monica Police Department at their last meeting citing a controversial salary provision that ties officer pay to neighboring cities.
Councilmembers Dan Hall, Natalya Zernitskayaand Jesse Zwick opposed the new four-year contract but were outvoted by Lana Negrete, Caroline Torosis, Barry Snell and Ellis Raskin who supported the contract which covers 231 police employees excluding the chief, but three members voiced strong opposition to what they called a financially irresponsible deal.
The contract runs from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2029, and includes cost-of-living adjustments of 4% in the first year, 5% in years two and three, and 4% in the final year. The agreement also suspends but does not eliminate the so-called "number two clause" that requires the city to pay officers the second-highest base salary in the region.
Hall said his opposition wasn't about the police department, which he called "one of the best police forces in the country" but was focused on the comparative salary requirement saying it was a bad deal for the city and taxpayers.
"When other cities like Beverly Hills, Torrance raise their officer salaries, we likely have to as well,” he said. “This means that city council members in Beverly Hills are making decisions for our city, are making decisions with your taxpayer dollars, and that I am not okay with."
Zernitskaya echoed those concerns, saying the police union is the only bargaining unit that has such a clause in their agreement, which has forced the city to adjust its already strained budget and compensation structures based on decisions that other cities make rather than giving councilmembers the opportunity to evaluate and adjust compensation based on the unique needs and circumstances of Santa Monica.
She noted the clause has created mandatory increases in salaries for senior management staff because managers must be paid more than their subordinates, citing a recent police chief salary increase of 6% and city manager salary increase of 10%. Zernitskaya said some management roles within the city are actually paid higher base salaries than the president of the United States.
Zwick warned the contract would consume significant city resources without improving public safety.
He said the additional $22 million in costs over the next four years effectively wipes out the entirety of the savings from a recent hiring freeze affecting all non-sworn personnel that aimed to save approximately $5 million annually.
“But what pains me most is that the deal we sold to every other bargaining group, we told them, in what I felt at the time is completely honesty, that we had no more money hidden away to better compensate the incredibly hard work by grounds, men, janitors, mechanics, bus drivers and so many other people to commute long hours and work for much lower pay any better,” he said.
He said paying current officers more will actually reduce public safety.
“To those who may cast this vote as anti public safety, I’ll just say that these pay increases will not add one cop to our streets, in fact, they will ensure that we will have no money to pay for additional public safety personnel over the next four year period. This is the opposite, I'm pretty sure, that the general public, including the general public that considers public safety as a top issue, would have wanted, but that is the result.”
Beyond salary increases, the contract includes several benefit enhancements: conversion of on-call pay to straight time, increased city contributions of $192 to the medical trust fund for each eligible employee, and bi-weekly deferred compensation contributions of $41.50 per employee.
The agreement also increases uniform allowances to $2,000 annually and converts 80 hours of personal leave for Field Training Officers to incentive pay equal to 4% of base salary.
The total first-year cost of the negotiated changes is approximately $7.4 million, with $4.8 million coming from the General Fund. The budget impact was included in the city's five-year financial forecast.
A separate contract with California Teamsters Local 986, representing 410 skilled trades and maintenance workers, passed unanimously.
Previously, Santa Monica police reported a 2% decrease in serious Part I crimes in 2024 despite a 25% increase in overall calls for service, according to the department's annual report.
The department recorded 4,840 Part I crimes — including murder, rape and robbery — down 77 incidents from 2023. However, Part II crimes like weapons violations and narcotics offenses jumped 16% to 4,080 cases.