Novato police struggle with retention amid city’s fiscal crisis

The Novato Police Department says it is struggling to maintain full staffing as nearby municipalities offer higher pay for officers.

Paul Shaw, president of the Novato Police Officers Association, said four officers left for the San Francisco Police Department in June to pursue more pay. He said retention is the department’s biggest long-term issue in maintaining service as it struggles to compete for officers with larger departments in the area.

The problem, ultimately, is that the city doesn’t have the money to offer more pay, said police Chief Jim Naugle.

“It’s pay, 100%. That’s what they are telling us,” Naugle said. “You’ve got to pay your bills. As things get more expensive that gets even harder. People are only willing to work in a good environment for so long if they don’t make enough money.”

At full staffing, the department has 59 officers. The department is technically at capacity, but there are eight to nine officers who are not on assignment because they are injured or still in training.

“That’s where the turnover really hurts us,” Naugle said.

Six people have been hired in the last six months, but the estimated start date from training to full service can be nine months to a year.

“There’s only so much money,” Naugle said. “It’s a hard equation because there’s a lot of hands out right now that need money. Novato is a great place to work and people generally want to stay. It’s about finding that balance.”

Novato has become more of a training ground than a long-term career for some officers, Shaw said.

Shaw grew up in Petaluma and joined the police department as an explorer. He became an intern in 2010 and an officer in 2013. During his career, he has worked on the Coordination of Probation Enforcement team and as a detective in the investigations unit.

“Over the 14 years I’ve been with the city, we’ve seen officers come in and come out,” he said.

New recruits first must apply, interview and go through a series of background checks. A prospective officer then goes through the California Peace Officers Standards and Training Program, an approximately 20-week academy. After that, there’s a two- to three-week orientation and a 16-week field training program where the new officers work with a partner.

Then the officers can work on their own during a probationary period that can last a year to 18 months.

“The real kicker is we watch people constantly get through training. By the time we have a new solo-capable officer, someone else can leave,” Shaw said.

Higher pay in nearby municipalities can be an enticement. In Novato, the starting salary for an officer ranges from $80,724.60 to $98,121.24. In nearby San Francisco, it is $103,116.

Two or three more officers could be heading out in the coming months, Shaw said.

“It’s a long-term concern with the ups and downs of staffing and the effect of burnout, working overtime to maintain patrol staffing,” Shaw said. “I think it comes down to a longer-term systemic issue with the city to fund retention.”

City Manager Amy Cunningham called staffing and retention a citywide problem. In the span of seven years, the numerical equivalent of the city’s workforce has turned over.

“We have many dedicated public servants at the city who fill critical roles, including maintenance workers who fill potholes and maintain city parks, recreation coordinators who run summer camps for children, and police officers who respond to 911 calls,” she said. “While turnover significantly impacts our Police Department, costing about $100,000 and sometimes taking up to 12 months to replace an officer, turnover is a citywide challenge and negatively impacts our ability to provide the community the best service possible.”

Over the last 12 fiscal years, only six labor contract years have included cost-of-living adjustments for city employees. Instead, to contain ongoing costs, the city has relied on one-time payments rather than base pay increases to compensate employees.

“Retaining employees citywide is critical to quality service delivery and the City Council’s strategic plan supports this goal through a number of initiatives,” Cunningham said, “including organizational and compensation studies, and efforts to improve fiscal sustainability such as the proposed locally controlled sales tax measure the council has unanimously decided to place on the November 2024 ballot for voters to consider.”

The 2024-25 budget has a $4.3 million deficit, with about $54.5 million in expenses and projected general fund revenues of just under $50.3 million. The city is projecting a $3.3 million general fund deficit in the 2025-26 fiscal year, followed by deficits of at least $3.4 million for the four years after that.

The sales tax measure in November calls for a three-quarter-cent increase in the city’s 8.5% rate. The city estimates the increase would bring in $10.3 million a year.

Shaw said the department supports the measure, noting that more money in city coffers could result in a more competitive pay range and improve retention.

“The city doesn’t have the funds to retain their employees,” he said. “No one wants to work in a city that has potential bankruptcy.”

Retention is a problem for other Marin agencies as well.

Lt. Scott Eberle of the San Rafael Police Department said staffing shortages have been worse over the last two years.

“We are facing challenges such as the quality of life as most police officers cannot afford to live in Marin County and have to commute almost an hour each way to work,” he said.

However, Eberle said a raise given to officers this year could attract entry-level officers and lateral transfers.

“We have also focused on recruiting within the county with success and are determined to continue with that strategy,” he said. “At one point, we were down almost 15 officers, but over the past year, we have made some progress in addressing the shortage.”