Committee recommends use of sales tax to fund sheriff’s supplement of Vallejo police

VALLEJO - A city of Vallejo oversight committee approved the use of millions of dollars from 2022’s Measure P sales tax measure to fund the Solano County Sheriff’s Office taking over policing duties for a large portion of Vallejo. 

The Measure P Oversight Committee voted 4-2 Tuesday to recommend using $9.3 million to fund 17 full-time sheriff’s office employees to cover parts of the city starting next year. Commissioners Jackie Jones and Loretta Gaddies voted against the item, following some debate over the validity of using Measure P funds to cover the city’s lack of general funds to improve staffing at Vallejo Police Department.

The Vallejo City Council already approved the plan, with Mayor Andrea Sorce saying she would like to use a combination of sales tax funds from Measure P and Police Department salary savings to pay for the sheriff’s support. Solano County requested this commitment before proceeding with negotiations on the proposal by the sheriff’s office to provide an autonomous service covering half of Vallejo’s policing beats for 12 hours, seven days a week.

Deputy Chief Robert Knight presented a report Tuesday finding that the Measure P funds would total up to $3.68 million used within the 2025-26 year, and up to $5.6 million in 2026-27 to cover these employees. He said the sheriff’s office would mostly focus their coverage in South Vallejo, overlapping with existing territory in unincorporated areas. 

Knight said that since the city declared a state of emergency in 2023 over police understaffing, hiring has slowly improved. 

“The gains are modest,” he said. “We currently have 36 vacant positions and 15 frozen positions.”

The goal is to reduce burnout, save overtime costs and increase traffic enforcement and visibility, Knight said, but it’s really a bandage on the overstaffing problem. “This is just a stopgap period of time, that in theory could give some relief to the officers and relief to the community,” he said.

The board seemed reticent to spend so much on the item when Measure P funds are already facing so many demands across different departments. Chair Jasmine Salmeron noted that the sheriff’s office is demanding new uniforms and vehicles, and asked, “When does it stop?” However, she later voted for the plan.

Commissioner Brien Farrell noted that there has been some controversy among the public over whether Measure P funds can be used to cover such general uses that the city’s coffers can’t cover. He worried that voters might get frustrated and vote against similar measures in the future.

“We will not get future votes … if voters can point to a wide array of uses that are not [typical],” Farrell said. “I do think we need to be very cautious and always be clear and nuanced.

Farrell said he was concerned about why the sheriff office won’t submit to the deadly use of force policies the Vallejo Police Department enforces, and will instead follow its own policies. Knight said he hasn’t spoken with the sheriff about why the department won’t agree to the city’s reformed use of force policies. Farrell voted in favor of the funding plan.

Farrell also pointed out the new lawsuit filed last week against the city by former Deputy Police Chief Joseph Gomez. The lawsuit alleges that officers harassed Gomez, who said the city fired him for his efforts to address deficiencies in the internal affairs department. 

Farrell said such lawsuits are not “idle threats”: “It’s a heavyweight in the field of public agency liability,” he said. “This new accusation of retaliation, which is pervasive in our city … we have to prevent claims in order to be an agency that’s viewed as legitimate.”

The issue next heads to the Solano County Board of Supervisors on May 8. However, the state’s Department of Justice must also approve it, as the sheriff’s deputies will not be beholden to a  settlement agreement reached with Vallejo over its policing practices. The Vallejo Police Officers Association, the city’s police union, could be an obstacle as its president Lt. Michael Nichelini has said the union is 100% against the sheriff’s office proposal. 

Police Chief Jason Ta said that once a contract is signed, the sheriff’s office needs six months to staff and train deputies before they begin patrolling Vallejo streets. The sheriff’s office will also order and build-out new vehicles for the deputies over six to nine months, which the city must pay for.