Excerpt: [San Jose public employees benefit] from city policies that are under scrutiny as San Jose confronts staggering budget deficits: letting longtime employees cash out unused sick and vacation leave when they retire. The policy cost taxpayers $7.8 million in 2008, up from $5.5 million the year before, according to pay data requested by the Mercury News. That's about one-tenth of next budget year's projected $78 million deficit. City officials say the benefit exceeds what government officials get elsewhere, not to mention private-sector employees where such large cash-outs are unheard of.  MORE >>