SAN JOSE — With arrests plummeting, cops fleeing and crime rising, San Jose voters may soon have the chance to beef up the police department, though it could come at the expense of other public services.

San Jose Councilman and mayoral candidate Pierluigi Oliverio on Friday proposed a June ballot measure that would require the city to spend at least 40 percent of its general-fund tax dollars on the police department each year. Currently, city leaders choose to spend about 30 percent of the city’s $1 billion budget on cops — already as big as the next three largest city departments combined.

“It’s a good chunk of the budget but it’s the most important part,” the Willow Glen councilman said. “If it’s the biggest priority then we need to fund it.”

The change should allow police to restore staffing to peak levels from last decade. But it would mean cuts to other general city services unless the city gets an influx of new cash from a proposed half-cent sales tax increase that could hit the ballot this November.

Mayor Chuck Reed is against the idea, saying he wants to get more cops on the street but not at the expense of other city services.

“If this proposal goes into effect, it appears that we’d have to cut significant funding from firefighting, emergency response, gang prevention and intervention, libraries, community centers and road repairs next year just to meet (the) proposed police department guarantee,” Reed said. “It’s bad policy to guarantee funding for one specific service, even if it is our most critical city service, without regard to the city’s fiscal situation or other pressing needs.”

The proposal also serves as Oliverio’s attempt to strengthen his public safety credentials amid the crowded race to replace the termed-out mayor, starting with a primary election in June. As polls continue to show the city’s crime rate and depleted police force as the biggest concern among voters, Oliverio is campaigning against four other local officials who have also been jockeying for position as tough-on-crime candidates:

Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese, the lone City Hall outsider among the major contenders in the race, is backed by police officers and other city unions and is pushing a shake-up that includes better compensation for cops to attract more candidates.

Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen has made her campaign’s top priority a goal to return San Jose to its place last decade as the safest big city in the country. She’s also adamant about defending voter-approved pension cuts that have saved taxpayer dollars but have helped prompt cops to flee San Jose.

Councilwoman Rose Herrera has pushed hard to try and ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, saying they are providing drugs to kids and damaging neighborhoods, though a majority of council members favor regulations instead.