San Jose's city budget for the next 12 months is on the books, but changes to the police department are just starting to take shape.

On July 13 members of the San Jose Police Officers Association ratified an agreement with the city that avoids layoffs but effectively eliminates 40 to 50 positions through attrition.

The agreement allows 92 vacant police positions to be cut. Roughly half the positions were truly vacant and half were police who retired in the last 12 months and will not be replaced.

There are more than 1,200 San Jose police in total.

"With these layoffs averted, it means we will have a good-size police force," said Jim Unland, vice president of the San Jose Police Officers Association.

Unland said union leaders agreed to the offer because the alternative was to lay off 71 current police officers.

The city council is expected to accept the deal at its next meeting on Aug. 3.

Separately, the adopted city budget also delays the opening of the South San Jose Police Substation under construction near the interchange of highways 85 and 87.

The station's opening has been pushed from March to September 2011.

The substation is expected to be a base for patrol officers who cover the Almaden Valley and other areas in South San Jose. Patrol officers now drive from the main station at 201 W. Mission St. near downtown to outlying areas. Swing shift officers who drive to Almaden Valley during rush hour are often caught in traffic, and the substation would minimize their commute and increase their patrol time.

It could also hasten response to calls.

"We see some major benefits to having the substation open as soon as possible, but it's up to the city council and the mayor," said police spokesman Ronnie Lopez.

Nancy Pyle, whose District 10 includes the Almaden Valley, indicated that she is also eager for the substation to open.

"Officers are driving from their homes in Gilroy to downtown, back to Almaden to start work," Pyle said. "It's kind of ridiculous," she said.

Pyle added that she believes the police department is understaffed and "stretched to the max."

The police's union agreement is set to have an impact on public safety and the city's money situation.

Mayor Chuck Reed's spokeswoman, Michelle McGurk, said the pending union agreement includes a 3.95 percent reduction in total police compensation.

That reduction falls short of the 10 percent cuts that the city council requested from all its employee unions, but the sides agreed to it to ensure that no working police would be laid off in 2010-11.

"It's important to understand that this is a stopgap measure and we will still be negotiating with the POA next year," said McGurk.

"We will still have see a smaller force, and that's not something the mayor wanted to see happen," McGurk said.

Leaders from the POA have indicated that the agreements are a move away from using its right to binding arbitration. In light of San Jose's crippled finances, a win for the police union could leave a sour taste for taxpayers.

John Tennant, general counsel for the POA, indicated in a July 1 blog post that the POA president, George Beattie, also wanted to avoid arbitration. Tennant quoted Beattie as saying: "What favor am I doing my members by refusing all concessions and going to arbitration when that will only turn the public against arbitration?"