Cuts in salary and benefits to the San Jose, Calif., Police Department have stirred up acrimony between Mayor Chuck Reed's office, the city council and the Police Officers Association leadership that might be unprecedented in that city and a harbinger for municipalities facing unfunded pension liabilities across the country.

Mayor Reed has been on the record for a year claiming the POA has exacerbated a staffing shortfall by holding job fairs for the union's officers, encouraging, and even enticing, them to seek employment with other police agencies, in and outside of the state.

"The POA has mounted a concerted effort to reduce staffing in our police department, which has undermined the department and increased the workload on the remaining officers," Mayor Reed told BenefitsPro via email.

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Nick Thornton

Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.