San Jose mayor pushes to link city official pay raises to performances

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Earning pay raises by accomplishing key goals, that's San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan's new proposal for top city officials in San Jose.

Mahan announced it Monday ahead of his March Budget message set to be released Tuesday.

"Should our city leadership, from the council to department heads, get automatic raises without results? Or should we tie our pay to progress?" he said at Tuesday's press conference.

Mahan said the initiative isn't about automatic cost of living raises public sector employees get, but the raises they could get beyond that.

MORE: 10 San Jose schools may close or consolidate due to $20 million budget deficit, district says

"I want as a standard operating procedure and as part of our culture here, for those pay raises to be justified based on measurable, documented performance, actual progress, based on a plan that we laid out at the beginning of the fiscal year," Mahan said.

He said what would be considered progress worthy of those workers getting pay raises, centers around four key goals.

"First and foremost, to end unsheltered homelessness that is our first focus area, to improve community safety that's our second focus area, to clean up our neighborhoods that's our third and to attract investment in housing and jobs that's our fourth," he said.

Mahan said the key goals and performance targets would be tracked by the publicly available dashboards that show the city's progress in each of those areas.

Some neighbors have had mixed reviews on the idea saying pay raises shouldn't dictate whether or not progress in the four areas identified is made.

MORE: San Jose designates $120 million from fiscal year budget for homeless solutions

"This is their job," said Ramiro, a San Jose resident who only wished to go by his first name. "I mean, I think when they're appointed, just like any other job, they need to give it 100% especially if they're working for the community, for the city."

Ultimately, if the city council approves the mayor's initiative, it will be the voters who decide.

"For elected officials, because our pay is determined by a salary setting commission that sits outside of City Hall which is governed by past ballot measures, we have to go to the ballot in order to direct the salary setting commission to tie our pay raises to performance," Mahan said.

Mahan reiterated that this does not affect who he referred to as "frontline workers" so it's not subject to unions or labor contracts.

If this goes to the ballot it would be in 2026 and if it passes, goes into effect in 2027.