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Cops in Santa Ana are getting a pay raise as part of a new three and half year contract with the Police Officers Association that will cost the city over $27 million.
The raises come amid concerns that city revenue will drop by $30 million in five years.
The funding issues are also prompting tough debates for Santa Ana city leaders, working to address a myriad of public safety challenges while also keeping their budget balanced.
This week, two recent shootings prompted public comment from city council members.
Angel Vuelvas, a 19-year-old, who was shot multiple times and killed on South Popular Street on June 3 and a drive-by shooting on June 5 that killed Daniel Vargas, a 13-year-old, on Pine Street.
Councilman Phil Bacerra said it was important to talk about the shootings, noting the city needs to fill vacancies in the police department.
“Crime is not going down. We’re seeing shootings. We’re seeing homicides,” he said.
In an email Monday, Santa Ana Police Officer Association President John Kachirisky said the contract will end in 2027 before the revenue from a sales tax called Measure X decreases in 2029.
“It is important for our 500 members, both sworn police officers, and non-sworn employees to have these pay raises in order to maintain the cost of living and to provide for their families,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, on a tight, 4-3 vote, three elected officials publicly questioned whether the city can afford the raises.
This discussion is also prompting a more deep questioning of what a city government can do to reduce crime alongside police response.
At the same time, other council members say the city needs to offer competitive pay compared to other law enforcement agencies in OC to attract and retain police officers and improve response times to violent crimes.
The new contract comes after the departure of former Police Chief David Valentin and former City Manager Kristine Ridge who’ve separately accused the police union of having outsized influence on city council members and their policy decisions.
[Read: Why Did Santa Ana Pay Out Over $600K to Settle a Claim Alleging the Police Union Runs City Hall?]
It also comes as city staff project a $30 million drop in sales tax revenue in five years as part of a decrease in Measure X, a 1.5% sales tax increase approved in 2018.
[Read: Can Santa Ana Afford a $27 Million Police Raise?]
Public Safety: How Much Does it Cost to Police Santa Ana?
At their Tuesday meeting, city council members launched a debate on how best to police a city as large as Santa Ana and improve public safety while facing a revenue cliff.
Councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez, Jessie Lopez and Ben Vazquez were the dissenting votes.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua, city council members David Penaloza and Phil Bacerra, whose political campaigns were heavily supported by the police union, along with Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan, who faced an unsuccessful recall effort backed by the union, supported the contract.
Amezcua said public safety was one of the most important issues identified by residents in this year’s budget survey and the city needs to be able to retain and hire cops in a city as big as Santa Ana.
“We need to hire officers and not just officers but non sworn personnel as well sworn and non sworn so that our community can get that response,” she said. “It’s critical for the safety of all of us.”
The police union spent roughly $218,000 on mailers and digital ads in support of Amezcua’s 2022 campaign.
Penaloza said having competitive pay to other law enforcement agencies in the county will help attract new officers to Santa Ana and retain the cops they already have, improving response times.
“A fully staffed Police Department is vital for our community’s well being and ensures that we can respond to emergencies promptly and provide the necessary support and services to our residents when they need it the most,” he said.
The police union spent a total of $92,000 in support of him in 2022.
Lopez, who faced an unsuccessful recall election backed by the police union last year, questioned how the city would be able to afford the contract given the expected revenue loss and how it would impact the city’s ability to pay for things like sidewalk repairs.
“My concern is really the trajectory of the council that I believe is making a decision to spend outside of its limitations,” she said. “And for me, as a policymaker, that means that we will have less money in the general fund to then provide the services that I hear my constituents ask me about.”
Lopez also said improving residents’ quality of life and addressing violent crime is bigger than one department.
“If we don’t have the money to help with prevention, then I don’t know that we’re going to see an absolute reduction in what’s going on in our city,” she said.
Hernandez also said addressing public safety has to be from a comprehensive approach.
“If we’re going to solve these issues, we’re going to have to be tough on how we’re spending our dollars,” he said. “If we want to talk about public safety, let’s be fair and let’s include all of our workers at the table.”
Hernandez also said part of the reason cops are leaving Santa Ana is because the police department is divided and torn by lawsuits.
“We’ve had a very public war between police officers and our police chief, our police union leadership and the police department,” he said. “Part of why we have a $30 million shortfall in front of us is because the police funded elected officials who have gotten a seat at the table are voting in favor of contracts that we just simply can’t afford.”
Bacerra, whose campaign received a total of $82,000 in support from the police union in 2022, said just because you support police doesn’t mean you’re a “bought and paid for pawn” by the Police Officers Association.
Bacerra also chided his colleagues for their state fiscal concerns, even accusing them on Tuesday night, in some cases, of campaigning with people who don’t support a police department at all.
“Now all of a sudden, we’ve got born again fiscal conservatives,” he said. “As a resident of the city, I want to call the cops and I don’t want to wait too long for them to respond. I want to make sure that they come.”
Bacerra added that when it comes to paying cops, Santa Ana is playing catch-up.
“People want the cops to come and people aren’t going to see more cops until we start compensating our cops appropriately,” he said.
Phan said city officials receive emails everyday regarding gang violence, sexual assaults, homicides, burglaries and molestations in the city.
“We can’t expect people to do work and not compensate them fairly, when the amount of work that they face here in this city is always magnitudes different from what they’re going to face in Irvine and some others,” she said.
The Contract
The contract will give police officers in the city 4% raise in July, another 4% raise in 2025 and a third 4% raise in 2026.
The contract would cost taxpayers close to $4.3 million the first year, about $9.2 million in the second year and nearly $13.7 million the third year, according to a staff report.
Beyond the pay raise, the contract would recognize Cesar Chavez Day as a holiday, increase bilingual pay for officers to up to $300 and increase longevity pay for employees depending on how many years of service they have and whether they are sworn or non-sworn employees.
To view the contract, click here.
Does Santa Ana’s Police Union Run City Hall?
Last year, the former Police Chief David Valentin and former City Manager Kristine Ridge left their jobs in a years-long battle against the police union and its president, Gerry Serrano, over raises and the push to expand Serrano’s pension.
Ridge also filed a claim last year accusing that elected officials went to bat for former police union leader Gerry Serrano and pressured Ridge to boost his pay and pension.
A majority of elected officials quietly decided to settle that claim and voted behind closed doors to pay Ridge over $600,000 rather than fight her in court.
While officials tried to keep the claim hidden from the public for months, but after legal threats from Knock LA, the city released a redacted version of the claim in April.
[Read: What Are Santa Ana Officials Hiding in a Claim Alleging The Police Union Runs City Hall?]
The vote also comes years after a tumultuous contract battle between police union officials and city leaders in late 2021 before approving a one year contract with a 3% pay raise for cops at the end of 2022 and rejecting a proposal that would have cost $25 million.
Shortly after that, the police union launched recall efforts against Phan and Lopez – two council members that voted for the 3% raise – which ultimately were unsuccessful.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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