In a 4-1 vote late Wednesday night, Saratoga’s City Council voted to continue its current contract with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for police services. In doing so, they opted not to pursue ending that contract early and instead joining with the Los Gatos- Monte Sereno Police Department to provide policing services. 

Wednesday night’s Saratoga City Council meeting was packed with dozens of residents and law enforcement officers who were tuning in to hear the city’s decision about how to move forward with law enforcement for the city.

City Council weighed whether it would continue on with its five-year contract with the Santa Clara County Police Department for its police services, or whether it would opt out of that contract early and instead use the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department for its police services starting in November of 2027.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office has been providing police services for the city of Saratoga for the past 70 years.

The City of Saratoga, as well as the town of Los Altos Hills, and the city of Cupertino, each just entered into new five-year contracts with the sheriff’s office to continue providing police services. However, Saratoga has the choice to opt out of that contract after the first year.

Saratoga city staff said that back in 2025, when it came time to renew their contract with the Sheriff’s office, the proposal they recieved would increase the annual cost by approximately $3 million or 33%.

“The discussion has never been solely about the cost of law enforcement, it is also about how the city balances public safety with its other responsibilities,” said Saratoga city manager Leslie Arroyo at Wednesday’s meeting.

Arroyo noted that in 2025 when Saratoga received the county’s proposal, it was already expecting to see its costs rising faster than revenue. The city then approached its neighboring community and the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department to come up with an alternative.

The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police department is managed through the city of Los Gatos but has also provided police services for Monte-Sereno for 30 years. The proposal Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police presented at Wednesday’s meeting would cost around 9.7 million dollars, which it said would provide a savings of roughly 2.7 million dollars to the city. The proposal would also allow for the creation of new staff positions and a police substation in Saratoga, the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police chief said. 

After hours of discussion and questions, a majority of council members voted to stay with the current contract. However, even the council members who voted for the contract told the Sheriff’s Department they want to see more data and transparency in the future about how their money is being used for policing resources.