When San Jose police officer and military reservist Derrick Boler answered his country's call, the city promised to make up the difference between his military and police pay so his family wouldn't suffer financially from his sacrifice.
When Boler returned home after 34 months in Iraq, the city handed him a bill for more than $52,000. City officials said they overpaid him by mistake and needed him to repay the difference in three years. With interest.
``I just about had a heart attack,'' said Boler, 42, an 18-year veteran of the San Jose police.
Boler isn't the only one.
San Jose has socked several of the 73 employee reservists who have served tours of duty over the past three years with repayment demands. The city council, which has tried several times to fix the problems, will discuss the matter again at its meeting Tuesday. But council members aren't sure what to do, because their attorney says they can't just forgive the payments.
City officials Friday could not provide the number of employees affected or the total amount of money owed.
``We don't want them to have to take a pay cut to serve their country,'' said Councilman Chuck Reed, the city's mayor-elect and a veteran of the Air Force. ``But we can't seem to get a handle on how to do that without creating these problems.''
State law requires cities to provide reservists full salary and benefits for as many as 30 days a year while they're gone for military activities. San Jose has from time to time extended those benefits for reservists called to active duty for longer periods, such as for the war in Kosovo.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, San Jose agreed to pay the difference, if any, between the reservists' total military pay and what they earned as city employees. That policy, which has been amended several times since, currently extends through December 2007.
But city officials say the matter isn't as simple as it sounds. Reservists' pay is based not just on rank and years of service but also includes additional amounts to cover housing, meals and compensation for combat and other hazardous assignments. That pay can vary during the tour of duty based on the soldier's location and assignment.
The military issues statements to the reservists documenting what they are being paid for, which they then submit to city payroll staff who calculate the additional amount the city will pay to match their former salary as employees.
But for whatever reason, that hasn't worked out as planned.
Boler said he submitted at least a half-dozen military pay statements so payroll staffers could calculate the supplemental pay to which he was entitled. Instead, the city kept giving him its initial rough estimate of 25 percent of his police salary.
Boler and his wife didn't realize that a mounting mistake was being direct-deposited into their bank account. He was off fighting a war, and his wife had to take a leave from her job as a correctional officer to take care of their two sons while he was away. He said they just assumed the city's payroll department knew what it was doing.
Fellow reservist and officer Pete Lovecchio said he was lucky enough to recognize something was amiss. His military pay as a naval reserve officer was on par with his $87,000 police salary, so he didn't ask for the city's supplemental pay while out on duty. When he noticed unrequested payments being deposited in his bank account, he made sure not to spend the money. Sure enough, when he got back, the city asked him to repay $14,000.
``My trick knee just told me something was wrong,'' said Lovecchio, 51.
Another San Jose officer and reservist, Frank Keffer, said the city initially gave him a surprise payment of more than $10,000, citing an underpayment during his 17 months serving as a military police officer in Iraq. The sudden payment left him with an unexpected $4,000 tax liability. The city later told him he owed back nearly $3,000.
Keffer said the city policy he saw as a generous gift turned into a nightmare.
``I was pretty worried about covering the bills and everything, so I was looking forward to that,'' said Keffer, 34. ``But I never would have accepted it if I'd known then what I know now.''
Many of the reservists' problems occurred during tours over the past three years, and the city has since revised its policy to work out the bugs. But the overpayment problems for many of the reservists have yet to be resolved, and others still on duty are experiencing them as well.
Lovecchio said he knows a fellow officer and reservist who is expected to return in December and will face a $22,000 overpayment bill from San Jose.
Councilwoman Nora Campos and Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez said in a recent memo seeking to resolve the supplemental pay problems that one reservist has spent four years trying to get his retirement credits reconciled so he can retire.
And for cases such as Boler's, Campos and Chavez asked, ``At what point does the city assume some responsibility for long-term overpayment errors?''
But the city attorney's office responded that any effort to forgive the overpayments -- even due to city error -- would constitute an illegal gift of public funds. The city can establish a repayment schedule but cannot give the money away, the office said.
Lovecchio challenged that assertion. Boler said he's been talking to an attorney and to the police union for advice.
``Being that it's public funds, if you were overpaid even out of people's incompetence, you're still required to pay that back, and I can accept that if it was my fault,'' Boler said.
The reservists said they are grateful to the city council for its efforts to help them serve their country and provide for their families, and say they hope the problems can be worked out.
``What they had done was a beautiful gift,'' Boler said. ``But it was kind of like a Trojan horse. There were some serious consequences.''
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