Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/santa-ana-police-officers-association/)
District Attorney investigators served search warrants at multiple locations in recent weeks to obtain documents, including text messages involving Reyna from multiple cell phones.
Santa Ana City Council members granted raises to police officers and sergeants totaling $25 million over the next two and a half years, without the ability to actually pay the $4.3 million cost for this fiscal year.
Reyna was facing the likelihood of sworn testimony, in public, by other city officials and one of his family members regarding allegations he falsified residency documents. His resignation sets the stage for a potential shift in power at City Hall.
Santa Ana City Council members will vote Tuesday on the largest pay raises for the city’s police officers in more than a decade, totaling $25 million in taxpayer money over the next two and a half years and adding $12 million per year going forward in additional costs. The raises amount to a 13.6 percent to 19.3 percent increase in base pay for each officer and sergeant between now and July 2020, according to the city. Officers and sergeants with 15 to 19 years in law enforcement would receive raises totaling 16.5 percent, and those with 20 or more years would receive 19.3 percent in increases. Before the last set of raises in 2017, the median compensation for a Santa Ana officer totaled about $213,000 per year, including $111,000 in pay before overtime and $88,000 in benefits, according to city data published by Transparent California. The city staff report doesn’t offer an explanation for the raises, beyond saying they resulted from negotiations between the police officers’ union and City Council.
The talks apparently include the possibility of Roman Reyna stepping down from the council.
Roman Reyna is accused of being ineligible for the seat because he was living outside the ward during a city-required residency period and falsified his election paperwork, which Reyna disputes. The outcome could affect the balance of power on the council.
Hairo Cortes, executive director of Chispa, writes that the future of Santa Ana is in the hands of the voters and their ability to hold their elected officials accountable.
The budget pressures are prompting warnings from the city manager that services may have to be cut back, despite growth in tax revenues. The funding gap is projected to grow to $40 million in five years.
Santa Ana is facing a possible three-way race for mayor in November, has wide-open contests for three of its City Council seats, and the largest fundraising to date has been by the city’s police union, according to the latest campaign reports.
The city is facing a projected $600,000 budget shortfall, without taking into account the new pay raises. City Council members didn’t say how they planned to pay for the additional cost, but previously talked about a sales tax increase.