Santa Clara is continuing its legacy of highly valuing public safety, causing its general fund to carry a heavy burden. More than half of its expenditures go toward public-safety salaries.

In 2026, the city is set to spend $169.59 million of the $335.37 million in the general fund on pay for the Santa Clara Police Department (SCPD) and the Santa Clara Fire Department (SCFD), according to the city’s most recent budget.

Not only is the amount Santa Clara spends high in aggregate dollars, but it is also significantly higher as a percentage. Many California cities earmark between 25% and 40% of their general fund for public safety.

For instance, Sunnyvale also spends a lot of money on public safety salaries. It spent $94.82 million of its $288.3 million general fund budget on public safety — 32% of its total general fund spending, according to its most recent budget.

But Santa Clara is on the upper end of what cities spend, putting it almost in a category of its own.

Santa Clara has a population around 130,000 residents, while Sunnyvale is slightly larger with a population of about 155,000 residents, according to Census data.

Given the numbers, Sunnyvale residents each pay $611 for public safety. Santa Clarans pay more than twice that at $1,304 per resident.

A look at both cities’ top earners in 2024 gives a snap-shot of how Santa Clara pays more than its neighbor. 

The top 10 Santa Clara public safety salaries, according to Transparent California, totaled $6.52 million, including benefits. Sunnyvale, meanwhile, only paid $5.57 million.

Former Santa Clara Police Chief Pat Nikolai’s benefits and “other pay” accounted for about half of that roughly $1 million delta in 2024. Nikolai collected $326,945 in “other pay” and another $236,801 in benefits. 

Nikolai was Santa Clara’s highest earning employee in 2024, earning $904,825 in total pay and benefits.

That year, Sunnyvale’s director of public safety, Phan Ngo, earned $545,463 in total pay and benefits, the sixth-highest public safety salary.

Last year, Santa Clarans elected a new police chief, and Sunnyvale also appointed a new public safety director. So, how those new positions will affect public-safety-salary spending long-term is still unknown.

Examining both departments’ top brass reveals that even without Nikolai’s herculean compensation, Santa Clara is still paying significantly more than Sunnyvale for public safety. For instance, Santa Clara’s tenth-highest public safety earner — a SCPD sergeant — would still be the highest-paid Sunnyvale public safety employee, earning more than all three deputy chiefs.

Most of the money Santa Clara spends on top salaries goes to the police. While Sunnyvale public safety officers are cross-trained — providing police, fire and EMT services — only $2.5 million of the $6.52 million Santa Clara spent on top salaries went to the fire department’s top brass.

Cities sometimes include some pension contributions along with benefits for figures on Transparent California. Without a clear delineation of how each city tracks these contributions, getting a clear picture of the tax burden to residents over a public servant’s career is difficult.

However, real cost is typically 30% to 60% higher than what’s reported on Transparent California, meaning the gulf between the two cities could be even larger. 

Even if the numbers are only a rough estimate, Santa Clara’s public safety spending has still grown at a breakneck clip over the past decade. 

In 2016, Santa Clara spent $96.29 million on salaries for all city employees, according to that year’s budget. While that year’s budget didn’t specify how much went to public safety, if the city spent the same percent as it does now, that would have amounted to $48.14 million.

That means this year’s spending amounts to a 254% increase.

Meanwhile, according to Census data, the city’s population has only grown 7% since then. In the past decade, Santa Clara’s crime rate has risen 153%, according to crime statistics.

All this ignores that roughly half of the $400 million bond measure voters approved will go toward capital projects for public safety. Although some of the numbers remain a bit opaque, what is clear is that Santa Clara’s public safety spending is swelling to never-before-seen levels. 

And it doesn’t show any sign of slowing down soon.

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com

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