Santa Ana City Councilman Ben Vazquez is calling on the State’s Attorney General Rob Bonta to thoroughly probe how Santa Ana’s police union spent taxpayer dollars over the last decade to see if there has been any misuse of public dollars.

It comes as the city’s police department faced a host of accountability questions this past summer and as city officials brace for an expected deficit in a couple years that city staff project will be tens of millions of dollars deep.

Vazquez says he is requesting the investigation after a city audit found officials overpaid $3.4 million for officers’ health benefit plans in 2023 despite the union’s health benefits account operating at over $608,000 deficit.

“Given that this funding arrangement has been in place for many years, the presence of both large overpayments and a deficit raises serious concerns about financial mismanagement or potential misuse of public dollars,” reads Vazquez’s Monday letter to Bonta. 

“The situation appears inconsistent with sound fiscal practices and demands independent review.”

To view the audit of 2023, click here.

The Santa Ana Police Officers Association – the union which spends heavily on local elections – spent over $70,000 against Vazquez’s failed mayoral campaign last year against the police union-backed Mayor Valerie Amezcua.

John Kachirisky, the president of the police union, said in a Wednesday email Vazquez’s comments were false and defamatory and claimed the city was not overpaying the union for health care benefits but underpaying them – echoing a letter he sent to the city council.

“It is quite concerning that he is in charge of leading this great City, but appears to lack a basic understanding of how the City provides healthcare to its employees, including the Santa Ana Police Officers Association,” reads his statement disagreeing with the audit’s findings.

“The City has actually underpaid SAPOA for the true cost of health insurance, and again pays much less than what it pays for nearly everyone else. There is no overpayment of any kind.”

Kachirisky also said the union has invested the contributions from the city to set up a reserve to make up the difference between what the city provides and what they actually need and said there was no deficit.

“The claimed deficit is not a deficit; it is actually the fact that the City does not provide a sufficient amount of contribution to actually pay for SAPOA health insurance.  The claimed deficit amount is the money that SAPOA must spend from its reserve fund to maintain benefits,” he added.

To read the response letter from Kachirisky, click here.

In his request, Vazquez calls on Bonta to investigate the cause of the $3 million overpayment, why the health benefit account is operating at a deficit, any potential improper use of funds by current and former leadership and conduct a forensic audit of their accounts dating back 10 years.

“They never came to mention and let us know that we overpaid by $3.4 million,” Vazquez said in a phone interview, adding that the city can only audit the fund starting back to 2023.

“I’m worried about past practices before I came to office, and where the money’s going and how it’s been handled.”  

Vazquez also said the $3 million could have been invested into programs for seniors, kids, housing and to help support immigrant families – things that he said has helped bring crime rates down nationwide.

Councilman Johnathan Hernandez said a state investigation in the union’s spending is necessary.

“These monies, at the end of the day, come from our taxpayers, and we as fiduciaries for the city have a responsibility to ensure that any monies that we receive from the public is responsibly used,” he said in a Wednesday phone interview.

“$3.4 million is an excessive amount for the POA to have failed to communicate that they have received.”

Hernandez also said he is concerned that the union is not using the fund for its intended purpose.

“I’m worried that they’re campaigning on taxpayer money, and that taxpayers are fronting the bill,” Hernandez said.

The police union spent over $50,000 against his reelection campaign last year.

Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, who previously faced an unsuccessful recall election backed by the police union, said she supports a state investigation but the city also has a responsibility to find out how much they have been overpaying the union over the years

“We’re talking about over $3.4 million in public funds that they have been receiving and keeping and the question is, did they ever have any intention of being honest and returning the excess money that they have been collecting for years now?” she said in a Wednesday phone interview.

Amezcua and Councilmembers David Penaloza – whose city council campaigns have been supported by the police association – and Councilmember Thai Viet Phan each did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

When asked about the letter over voicemail, Councilman Phil Bacerra texted a link to a post on his Instagram in which he writes that Vazquez is making baseless allegations against the police union and Vazquez told KCAL news that he didn’t even read the audit.

“Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez preaches de-escalation to the police but does not afford our police the same courtesy,” Bacerra wrote.

“The time that Mayor Pro Tem Vazquez spent unnecessarily escalating this situation because of his bias against our police could’ve been better spent on reading the audit and the contract and trying to understand the terms of the contract between the city and the POA are already being  enforced.”

Bacerra’s campaign received a total of $82,000 in support from the police union in 2022.

Vazquez said he has since read the audit and calling for an investigation isn’t the same as making accusations.

“I’m doing my job. This is due diligence. I did not point fingers. I didn’t make accusations. I didn’t criminalize anybody. It is what it is. This is what I had to do. They didn’t like how I did it. That’s their problem,” he said of the criticism of his probe request.

Under the city’s contract with the police union, the police officers association is supposed to maintain a medical insurance trust fund that the city contributes nearly $1,600 for each actively employed union member every month.

“Funds in said medical insurance trust shall not be co-mingled with other Association funds,” reads the health plan agreement in the contract.

The agreement also states that starting with 2023, an annual audit would be conducted to see if the city was overpaying and the city would reduce its monthly contributions to the fund for six months if auditors agreed to by both parties found there was an excess fund balance.

Bacerra said in his Instagram post that the city has already begun to reduce the contributions.

Kachirisky said the city has withheld $571,000 from a recent payment to the fund – something the union is against.

Lopez said she pushed for the audit to be done and the findings show future audits in the union’s health benefits fund should go further. 

“There are many things that this audit is not directed to do that the council should look into and that’s my priority as well. That’s the work that my office is going to hopefully spearhead,” she said. 

A Projected Deficit and a Rocky Relationship With Police Union

Vazquez’s request for an investigation comes as the city is bracing for its own expected $30 million deficit in four years due to the sunset of Measure X, a sales tax measure, if city council members don’t take action to address it.

In June, city officials approved allocating about $161 million or 38% of the general fund budget – the biggest portion of their discretionary money – to the police department in what they described as Santa Ana’s last big budget for a while.

Last year, city officials also approved a three and half year contract with the Police Officers Association that will cost the city over $27 million through the life of the agreement.

Meanwhile, the Santa Ana Police Department has been facing a host of accountability questions this past summer and intense public scrutiny for their response to protests against federal deportation sweeps. 

The department has also been criticized for failing to disclose their military equipment and how they used it for the past two years.

Amid the accountability questions, police officers filed harassment complaints against Hernandez – a staunch critic of the police union – while the union is demanding local reporter Ben Camacho stop reaching out to its members to ask them questions or face legal actions.

[Read: Does Santa Ana’s Police Union View Criticism and Questions as Harassment?]

In his letter to Bonta, Vazquez said Santa Ana’s Police Officers Association has been the subject of controversy before.

The councilman points to former controversial police union President Gerry Serrano’s attempt to improperly boost his pension.

[Read: Santa Ana Officials: Police Union Boss Threatens to ‘Burn the Place Down’ to Boost His Pension]

“The 4th District Court of Appeal eventually ruled against the former SAPOA president and reaffirmed CalPERS’ stance against extra pay bonuses to spike pensions,” reads Vazquez’s Monday letter.

“These issues further underscore the need for transparency and accountability in how public

contributions are being managed.”

Serrano ultimately parted ways with the city in 2023.

That same year former Police Chief David Valentin and former City Manager Kristine Ridge also left their jobs following the years-long battle against the police union and Serrano, over raises and the push to expand his pension. 

On her way out Ridge filed a $600,000 claim alleging elected officials went to bat for Serrano and pressured her to raise his 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.

Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.