Awards
San Diego Municipal Code § 22.1017
in effect§22.1017 Awards
Upon a finding by the Committee that a net savings or net increase in revenue will accrue to the City through adopting and placing the suggestion into operation, the Committee may recommend to the Council that an award be made appropriate to the category of eligibility of the suggester. Three categories of eligibility are established, as follows:
(a) Category I: Employees who are expected to develop cost savings ideas in all areas of City operations as a natural extension of their normal job duties. Category I employees shall be eligible for a recognition award.
(b) Category II: Employees who are expected to develop cost savings ideas within their area of professional expertise and career development. Category II employees shall be eligible for an award not to exceed $1,000 or ten percent (10%) of the estimated first year’s net savings or net increase in revenue, whichever is less.
(c) Category III: Employees who are not normally expected to develop cost savings ideas outside the area of their specific job assignment. Category III employees shall be eligible for an award not to exceed $5,000 or thirty percent (30%) of the estimated first year’s net savings or net increase in revenue, whichever is less.
The City Manager shall determine the Category of Eligibility for each job classification, and shall publish and distribute this information for guidance of all employees.
Where the Committee finds that it is impracticable or uneconomical to estimate the amount of such savings or increase in revenue, the Committee may nevertheless recommend that the Category I suggester receive a recognition award, the Category II suggester be paid a monetary award not to exceed $50, and the Category III suggester be paid a monetary award not to exceed $500 for any one suggestion. Where the Committee finds that the suggestion cannot be adopted or placed in operation but that the suggestion has led directly to the adoption of improvement or changes that result in a savings or increase in revenue to the City, the Committee may recommend to the Council that the Category I suggester receive a recognition award, the Category II suggester be paid a monetary award not to exceed $50, and the Category III suggester be paid a monetary award not to exceed $500 for any one suggestion.
At the end of the first twelve (12) months following the granting of any monetary award of less than $5,000 to a Category III employee, or any monetary award of less than $1,000 to a Category II employee, the Committee shall reinvestigate such suggestion and shall determine or estimate the extent to which said suggestion has resulted in a net savings or a net increase in revenue to the City.
For a Category III employee, if the Committee concludes that a net savings or net increase in revenue for such twelve– month period has been realized and that the previous award was less than thirty percent (30%) of such savings, then the Committee may recommend that the suggester be paid an additional award not to exceed thirty percent (30%) of the difference between the original award and the reevaluated first year’s net savings or net increase in revenue. For a Category II employee, if the Committee concludes that a net savings or net increase in revenue for such twelve–month period has been realized and that the value of the previous award was less than ten percent (10%) of such savings, then the Committee may recommend that the suggester be paid an additional award not to exceed ten percent (10%) of the difference between the original award and the reevaluated first year’s net savings or net increase in revenue. In no event, however, shall the aggregate total monetary award for any one Category III suggestion exceed $5,000 or the aggregate total monetary award for any one Category II suggestion exceed $1,000.
(Amended 12–5–1983 by O–16087 N.S.)
Source: City of San Diego Office of the City Clerk, San Diego Municipal Code and City Charter (docs.sandiego.gov PDFs)URL: https://docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter02/Ch02Art02Division10.pdf#page=6Fetched: 10/28/2026