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Santa Monica Police Department
- A Budget Breakdown -
Authors: Alicia Virani and Leah Gasser-Ordaz
This report summarizes public data on the money spent by the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) on its total budget and
unsworn and sworn employee salaries. This research has four main findings. First, between 2015 and 2020, the total police budget for
SMPD increased by 23 million dollars. Second, the majority of SMPD’s budget (63%) is spent on employee salaries, which includes
unsworn and sworn SMPD employees. Third, SMPD sworn employees
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earned a median annual salary of $190,210 in 2019, 35% of
which ($67,449) was from overtime and Other Pay. Fourth, SMPD employees classified as police officers had the highest median
total pay when compared to police officers in ten other agencies within Los Angeles County.
About the Data
This report relies on several sources of data. First, data on SMPD overtime and Other Pay payments for calendar year 2019 and
2020 were obtained from SMPD through California Public Records Act requests (CPRA).
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S
econd, Santa Monica Police Officer
Association (SMPOA) memoranda of understanding (MOUs)
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from the years 2014 through the present were obtained from SMPD
through the city’s website.
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Third, the City of Santa Monica’s budget reports and city expenditures from 2015 through the present
were obtained from the city’s website.
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Fourth, government employee salary information was obtained from Transparent California, a
website that provides public information on government employee salaries.
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QUICK FACTS 2019
SMPD budget: $94,167,032
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Total SMPD employees (sworn and
unsworn employees): 511
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Total salary budget: $59,743,726
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Percentage of SMPD
budget spent on salaries: 63%
Between the years 2015 to 2020, the Santa Monica Police
Department
spent $179 million dollars on full-time sworn
employees’ salaries.
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In 2019, the amount of funding allocated by the City of Santa Monica to SMPD was:
2 x the amount of City funding allocated to the Santa Monica Fire Department
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7 x the amount of City funding allocated to the Santa Monica Public Library
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Table 1: Santa Monica Police
Department Budget Over Time
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
FISCAL YEAR
$105,000,000
$100,000,000
$95,000,000
$90,000,000
$85,000,000
$80,000,000
$75,000,000
$70,000,000
TOTAL BUDGET
There are four different components to police salaries.
All employees receive a base salary, which is an em-
ployee’s regular pay and calculated at an hourly rate. In
addition, a majority of employees are eligible to receive
“overtime pay,” which is pay for hours worked in ad-
dition to the hours the employee was originally assigned
to work. Employees can also receive “Other Pay,”
which can be for special assignments or educational
attainment among other categories, and “lump sum
pay,”
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which are one-time payments that may include
payoffs for unused vacation or sick time.
In
2019, the total salary budget for all SMPD employees was $59,743,726.
$40,233,308 of the total salary budget, or 67%, went toward base salaries.
Base Pay
67%
Overtime
Pay
18%
Other Pay +
Lump Sum Pay
15%
Figure 1: Salary Budget By Category (2019)
$10,589,427, or 18% of the total salary budget, comprised overtime payments.
$8,920,991, or 15% of the total salary budget, was allocated to Other Pay.
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Santa Monica Police Department – Overtime Pay
Total Spent on Overtime in 2019: $10,589,427
While 67% of the salary budget was spent on base pay in 2019, 18% went to overtime pay. The
following overtime provisions apply to sworn employees, except for those classied as Police
Lieutenant, Captain, and Deputy Police Chief, unless otherwise stated:
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Standard pay = base salary without additional bonuses or supplemental pay.
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Regular rate of pay (RRP) = base salary plus longevity and educational incentives
as well as any other categories of pay included in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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The pay for the majority of the overtime categories is calculated using RRP. For sworn
employees, this can be much higher than their base salary, thus increasing the amount they
receive in overtime pay.
What is standard pay vs. regular rate of pay?
1. General Overtime Pay—if an ofcer has to work in excess of their regularly assigned work day, they
receive overtime pay at the rate of 1 ½ times their regular rate of pay. In 2019, the total spent on general overtime pay
was $8,415,866.
2. Off Duty Appearances—if an ofcer must appear at an ofcial proceeding while off duty, they are paid a
minimum of three hours overtime pay at the overtime rate of 1 ½ times their regular rate of pay. SMPD is unable to
disaggregate the total spent on off duty appearances, however spending in this category is included in the general over-
time pay gure above.
3. Call Back Pay—if an ofcer is called back to work outside of their regularly scheduled hours, they are paid a
minimum of four hours overtime pay at the overtime rate of 1 ½ times their regular rate of pay. In 2019, the total spent
on call back pay was $209,623.
4. Telephone Calls While Off Duty—if an ofcer receives a telephone call while off duty regarding a work-re-
lated issue, they are entitled to a minimum of two hours of overtime at the rate of their standard pay. In 2019, the total
spent on overtime for telephone calls while off duty was $5,641.
5. Ofcial Appearance Standby—if an ofcer is placed on a standby or on call status, and that status begins
within three hours of their scheduled time to begin working, the employee will receive pay at the rate of their standard
pay for the time they are on standby/on call outside of their regular work schedule. In 2019, the total spent on overtime
for ofcial appearance standby was $120,410.
6. On-Call Pay—if an ofcer is on call and is also required to respond back to work during a seven-day time
period, they receive overtime pay at the rate of 1 ½ times their regular rate of pay for the actual amount of time they
work if they are called back to work. They also receive $200 for the seven-day period. In 2019, the total spent on on-call
pay was $136,000.
7. Filming Assignments—if an ofcer is assigned to a lming assignment, they receive overtime pay at the rate
of 1 ½ times their regular rate, with a minimum of eight hours of overtime pay guaranteed. The City of Santa Monica
is reimbursed by the lming companies for these expenditures. In 2019, the city was reimbursed $401,047 for the
money it paid sworn employees to staff lming assignments.
8. Special Events—SMPD Captains and Lieutenants receive overtime compensation at their straight time rate
of pay while working special events when the work exceeds their regularly scheduled work hours. In 2019, the total
spent on overtime for special events was $4,721.
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Santa Monica Police Department – Overtime Pay Continued
96% of SMPD full-time sworn employees made less in base salary than the overtime pay of the sworn SMPD
ofcer with the highest overtime pay. This ofcer also received more in overtime pay than the total pay (base
salary, overtime pay, other pay, and lump sum pay) of 42% of full-time sworn employees. Three SMPD full-time
sworn employees made more than the SMPD Police Chief in total pay, in part due to their high rates of over-
time pay.
The number of employees classified as police officers increased
by
22%.
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Table 2. Highest Overtime Pay Paid to Sworn Employees, 2019
Rank Base Salary Overtime Pay Other Pay Total Salary
(excluding benets)
Police Ofcer #1 $114,631 $178,162 $42,758 $335,551
Police Ofcer #2 $107,603 $151,249 $15,764 $274,616
Police Ofcer #3 $114,631 $137,283 $35,629 $287,543
Police Ofcer #4 $114,631 $135,195 $47,202 $297,028
Police Sergeant $152,398 $132,825 $50,709 $335,932
Figure 2: Share of Overtime in Total Budget & Number of Personnel Classied
as Police Ofcers from 2015-2019
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
FISCAL YEAR
$100,000
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$-
$ IN THOUSANDS
200
150
100
50
0
Overall SMPD
Budget
Overtime
Budget
# of Officers
Between 2015-2019, the median SMPD overtime pay increased by 59%.
Over the same period of time, arrests increased by 26%.
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Santa Monica Police Department – Other Pay
Total Spent on Other Pay in 2019: $8,920,991
Other Pay Categories
Sworn employees can receive Other Pay in the following ways:
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Educational Incentive Pay
SMPOA’s MOU states that sworn employees will
receive a 12.8% increase in their base salary for
having an Advanced POST Certication or a
bachelor’s degree in a eld relevant to the profes-
sion.
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Currently, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s
(LASD) deputies and Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) ofcers receive only a 5.6% and 2% increase in their base salary, respectively, for having either an Advanced POST certica-
tion or a bachelor’s degree.
While comparing Educational Incentive Pay among local police departments is informative, comparing SMPD’s Educational Incentive
Pay to the educational incentives provided to other professionals may also be helpful in conceptualizing this form of Other Pay. There
are many other professions where education is considered either benecial or a requirement to meet a standard level of performance,
including teachers.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unied School District (SMMUSD) certicated teachers are placed into different base salary groups and within
each group is a step-based salary scale.
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These groups are based on how many graduate level semester units an individual teacher has
completed. In 2019, a Group I certicated teacher with a bachelor’s degree and zero graduate level semester units made $50,980 per
year. A Step One sworn employee with the classication of Police Ofcer with no higher education made $94,140 in the same year,
almost twice as much. That same ofcer with a bachelor’s degree in a eld relevant to policing made $106,190. A SMMUSD teacher
would need to have their BA plus seventy or more graduate level units and be towards the higher end of that group’s salary scale in
order to make a comparable salary.
Table 4. Comparison of Educational Incentive Pay
Base Salary Increases for SMPD, LASD, and LAPD
SMPD LASD LAPD
12.8% 5.6% 2%
Table 3. Highest Other Pay Paid to Full-Time Sworn Employees, 2019
These forms of Other Pay are not exclusive, so one ofcer can receive several of these categories of Other Pay.
4. Promotional Pay Rate—An increase in pay for a sworn
employee who is being promoted to a new position and their current
salary is equal to or greater than the entrance salary of the new position.
5. Acting Pay—When a sworn employee is directed to perform
the duties and assume the responsibilities of someone in a higher posi-
tion for at least 80 hours.
6. Educational Incentive Pay—Police Ofcers, Sergeants,
Lieutenants, and Captains are paid an additional amount based on their
level of higher education at an accredited college, or by their level of
state certication through the Commission on Peace Ofcer Standards
& Training (“POST”).
1. Longevity Pay—Additional
monthly compensation for years of
continuous service.
2. Canine Ofcer Pay—For
sworn employees assigned to canine
ofcer detail.
3. Bilingual Pay—A monthly
at rate of pay for sworn employees
who are assigned to a position that
requires them to speak or translate a
language other than English on a regu-
lar basis.
“Other Pay” encompasses income, such as lump sum pay, that does not fall into base salary or overtime pay.
(excluding benets)
Police Captain #1 $164,018 $10,831 $105,732 $280,581
Deputy Police Chief $121,732 $15,754 $103,157 $240,283
Police Captain #2 $120,913 $14,322 $96,871 $232,106
Police Captain #3 $184,991 $6,907 $91,064 $282,962
Police Captain #4 $138,345 $10,662 $86,323 $235,330
Rank Base Salary Overtime Pay Other Pay Total Salary
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How does SMPD compare to other departments in Los Angeles
County and within the City of Santa Monica?
The SMPOA MOU includes an equity adjustment, a provision that goes into effect each year.
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In the 2020-2022 MOU, the provision
is suspended for that time period, although it could go back into effect as the MOU authorizes yearly amendments.
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The equity ad-
justment provision states that, if necessary, the Step Five base salary of each job classication covered by the MOU will be increased
by the amount necessary to make the net pay
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of the classication of Police Ofcer “to be the second highest of the ‘net pay’ paid
to employees at top step, with ve (5) years of service, of a comparable classication in the following local police departments” and
then lists ten other police departments.
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This provision ensures that SMPD has parity in pay across these other departments. Even
though SMPD engages in a calculation to achieve the second highest net pay amongst the below departments, the median base pay
and total pay for those classied as police ofcers is highest for Santa Monica.
As seen in Figures 3 and 4 below, the percentage of the SMPD’s salary budget that is spent on overtime pay and Other Pay is higher
than that of LAPD, LASD, and other City of Santa Monica employees. While SMPD spent 18% of its budget for salaries on overtime
pay in 2019, LAPD spent 13% and LASD spent 15% in the same year.
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The base starting salary for LAPD ofcers is 28% less than
that for SMPD ofcers.
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The City of Santa Monica spent 6% of its budget for salaries on overtime pay and 5% on Other Pay in 2019
for full-time city employees (police and re department employees) as compared to 18% on overtime and 14% on Other Pay for all
SMPD in the same year.
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Table 5. Median Salary Comparisons of Those Classied as Police Ofcers Across
Departments Listed in the Equity Adjustment Provision of the 2020-2022 MOU
Median Base Median Median Median
Pay Overtime Other Pay Total Pay
Santa Monica $114,631 $33,432 $24,540 $173,714
El Segundo $113,004 $1,364 $22,454 $141,100
Beverly Hills $110,010 $29,485 $20,985 $160,043
Glendale $101,728 $25,174 $27,892 $172,673
Pasadena $99,463 $28,252 $13,872 $145,068
Gardena $97,070 $14,645 $32,676 $141,747
Culver City $96,587 $21,527 $30,360 $151,215
Torrance $93,421 $19,892 $40,800 $157,030
Inglewood $86,578 $25,141 $21,813 $132,904
Redondo Beach $85,715 $17,538 $42,005 $145,183
Burbank $84,266 $21,800 $45,128 $150,578
Figure 4. Breakdown of Total Pay for City
of Santa Monica versus All Full-Time
Sworn and Unsworn SMPD employees
Figure 3. Breakdown of Total Pay for
Sworn and Unsworn Employees of
LASD, LAPD, and SMPD
SMPD LAPD LASD
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
PERCENT
Full Time City
Employees
(excluding police & fire)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
PERCENT
Full Time Sworn &
Unsworn
SMPD Employees
Base Pay Overtime Pay Other PayBase Pay Overtime Pay Other Pay
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Suggested Citation: Virani, A., Gasser-Ordaz, L. (2021). “Santa Monica Police Department: A Budget Breakdown,” Criminal Justice
Program, UCLA School of Law.
Endnotes
1
In this report, sworn employees refers to those employees who are members of the Santa Monica Police Officer Association
(SMPOA), which are employees with the classications of: police ofcer, sergeant, captain, lieutenant, and police chief.
2 All public records act request data received from SMPD are on le with the authors.
3 On a regular basis, the Santa Monica Police Ofcers Association (SMPOA), the union that represents certain sworn employ-
ees, negotiates a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Santa Monica that governs compensation, benefits, leave,
working conditions, and employer/employee relations.
4 MeMoranduM of understanding Between City of santa MoniCa, Cal. and santa MoniCa PoliCe offiCers ass’n. (2014-2017),
https://www.smgov.net/Departments/HR/Labor_Relations/MOUs/SMPOA_MOU_2014-2017. aspx [https://perma.cc/5QHR-73S7]
[hereinafter 2014 SMPOA MOU]; MeMoranduM of understanding Between City of santa MoniCa, Cal. and santa MoniCa PoliCe
offiCers ass’n. (2017-2020), https://www.smgov.net/Departments/HR/ Labor_Relations/ MOUs SMPOA_MOU_2017-2020_FINAL
_Signed.aspx [https://perma.cc/PGV3-W7NY] [hereinafter 2017 SMPOA MOU]; MeMoranduM of understanding Between City of
santa MoniCa, Cal. and santa MoniCa PoliCe offiCers ass’n. (2020-2022), https://www.smgov.net/ Departments/HR/Labor_Relations
/MOUs/SMPOA_MOU_2020-2022_FINAL_1__docx.aspx [https://perma.cc/ZSF3-KD55] [hereinafter 2020 SMPOA MOU].
5 Santa Monica Police Dep’t, https://santamonicapd.org/ (last visited Aug. 3, 2021) [https://perma.cc/K7JJ-24CP] City of santa
MoniCa fin. deP’t, CoMPre-hensive annual finanCial rePort for the year ended June 30, 2019, https://finance.smgov.net/Media/
Default/annual-reports/FYE2019/FYE2019-CAFR.pdf [https://perma.cc/QM42-YPT3] [hereinafter Santa Monica Budget 2019].
6
7
8
9
10
11
Transparent California, https://transparentcalifornia.com (last visited Aug. 3, 2021) [https://perma.cc/ES3P-NZNK].
Santa Monica Budget 2019, supra note 5, at 104.
This gure was taken from the information received via CPRA and is on le with the authors.
Id.
Id.
In scal year 2018-2019, the Fire Department’s nal budget was $ 43,935,389. The majority ($43,265,464) of the Fire De-
partment’s budget was provided by Santa Monica’s general fund. Santa Monica Budget 2019, supra note 5, at 104 & 133.
12 In fiscal year 2018-2019, the Library’s final budget was $13,675,228. The majority of the library’s budget ($13,626,708), was
provided by Santa Monica’s general fund. Id. at 105 & 133.
13 Transparent California lists the “Other Pay” category as the sum of the Other Pay and Lump Sum Pay categories. Because
of this, the authors have calculated SMPD’s Other Pay as the sum of Other Pay and Lump Sum Pay, and used the term Other Pay
to refer to the summation of those two categories of pay throughout this report.
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15
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18
19
20
2017 SMPOA MOU, supra note 4, at 8-13.
Id. at 7.
Id.
Santa Monica Police Dep’t, supra note 5.
2017 SMPOA MOU, supra note 4, at 14-18.
Id. at 14-15.
Agreement between Santa Monica-Malibu Unified Sch. Dist. and Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Tchrs. Ass’n, 130 (July 1,
2018 - June 30, 2021), https://www.smmcta.com/uploads/4/0/6/2/40622543/smmcta.18-21.agreement.final.102120.pdf [https://
perma.cc/9SVB-MGZV].
21
22
23
2017 SMPOA MOU, supra note 4, at 8; 2020 SMPOA MOU, supra note 4, at 8.
2020 SMPOA MOU, supra note 4, at 8.
Net pay is defined as the base salary plus the value of employer paid member retirement contributions less the
employee paid retirement contributions. Id.
24
25
26
Id.
Transparent California, supra note 6.
MeMoranduM of understanding no. 24 for Joint suBMission to the City CounCil regarding PoliCe offiCers, lieutenant and
Below rePresentation unit, City of los angeles and the los angeles PoliCe ProteCtive league, 43 (2019-2024), https://cao.lacity.org/
MOUs/ MOU24-24.pdf [https://perma.cc/H956-Q7NZ]; City of santa MoniCa salary sChedule, 83 (July 2018), https://
finance.smgov. net/media/ default/compensation/CityofSantaMonicaSalarySchedule.pdf [https://perma.cc/66VV-BDYA].
27 Transparent California, supra note 6.
