Redlands, California was once called “The Jewel of the Inland Empire.” However, decades of lazy, incompetent, inept, self-serving, and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats have destroyed our once beautiful city. It is time to fight back! The purpose of this website is to provide a means for whistle-blowers (public and public employees) to expose the malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance of these “public servants.”
California’s Debt Folly –Unnecessary spending on retiree health care is crushing the Golden State.
California has asked Washington for $14 billion in Covid-related support, in addition to the $8 billion already provided by the CARES Act. But because the state, with an annual General Fund of $150 billion, incurs more than $24 billion of annual expenses for pensions and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) — including post-employment subsidies for health insurance — a big chunk of the federal disbursement won’t go to schools, hospitals, or roads.
California’s pension problems are well known, but the OPEB crisis is almost as bad. California pays 100 percent of the health-insurance premiums for retired state employees and 90 percent of the premiums for retirees’ family members. As a result, the state incurs annual OPEB expenses of more than $7 billion. Because the state covers that cost with a combination of cash ($2.7 billion this year) and debt, California’s OPEB deficit is $85 billion, exceeding the amount of the state’s outstanding General Obligation Bonds, which—unlike OPEB debt—were approved by voters.
Why California Is In Trouble – 340,000 Public Employees With $100,000+ Paychecks Cost Taxpayers $45 Billion
Despite California’s $54 billion budget deficit and $1 trillion unfunded pension liability, there are 340,390 government employees bringing home six-figure salary and pension checks.
Recently, though, Gov. Gavin Newsom asked U.S. taxpayers for a bailout.
The governor wrote a letter to Congress requesting a $1 trillion in coronavirus 50-state aid. Then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi obliged by adding $500 billion for the states into the HEROES Act – the bill passed and now awaits action in the Senate.
Here, in part, is why California is asking for taxpayers’ help.
Our auditors at OpentheBooks.com found truck drivers in San Francisco making $159,000 per year; lifeguards in LA County costing taxpayers $365,000; nurses at UCSF making up to $501,000; the UCLA athletic director earning $1.8 million; and 1,420 city employees out-earning all 50 state governors ($202,000).
In 2013, Redlands had 196 employees who made over $100,000.00 a year. Furthermore, Redlands had about 52 employees who made more than the base pay of a 4 Star General. Clearly, the problem is not taxes that are too low; it is employees who have an over-inflated sense of self-worth.
- In 2013, the population of Redlands was 69,999 with 24,769 households.
- The tax burden was $3,242.94 per person to support the City’s and School District’s employees’ pay and pensions.
- The tax burden was $9,164.80 per household to support the City’s and School District’s employees’ pay and pensions.
| Employer | Employees – 2013 | Amount – 2013 |
| City of Redlands Employees | 574 | $50,433,702.00 |
| City of Redlands Pensions | 387 | $15,527,087.21 |
| Redlands Unified School District Employees | 3,077 | $134,185,808.13 |
| Redlands Unified School District Pensions | 558 | $26,856,291.95 |
| Total | 4596 | $227,002,889.29 |
Source 9/13/2015: Transparent California
In 2013, the City of Redlands had 574 employees who received $50,433,702.00 in pay & benefits.
City of Redlands employees that are paid in excess of $100,000.00 – 2013
| Employee Name | Job Title | Base Pay | Overtime Pay | Other Pay | Benefits | Total Pay | Total Pay & Benefits | Year |
| Nabar Enrique Martinez | City Manager | $249,737.00 | $0.00 | $27,805.00 | $76,824.00 | $277,542.00 | $354,366.00 | 2013 |
| James G Topoleski | Battalion Chief | $142,399.00 | $101,456.00 | $28,166.00 | $68,944.00 | $272,021.00 | $340,965.00 | 2013 |
| Dan McHugh | City Attorney | $219,638.00 | $0.00 | $30,458.00 | $81,219.00 | $250,096.00 | $331,315.00 | 2013 |
| Jeff L Frazier | Fire Chief | $171,250.00 | $0.00 | $56,911.00 | $100,108.00 | $228,161.00 | $328,269.00 | 2013 |
| Mark Garcia | Police Chief | $205,615.00 | $0.00 | $22,160.00 | $91,128.00 | $227,775.00 | $318,903.00 | 2013 |
Some of these numbers are so large that they are difficult to comprehend. So, let’s take a look at Nabar Enrique Martinez, Redlands City Manager, $ 354,366.00 annual pay, and break it down.
$ 354,366.00 a year
$ 29,350.50 a month
$ 6,814.73 a week
$ 1,362.95 a day
$ 170.37 an hour
$ 2.84 a minute
California’s minimum wage is $9.00 per hour. Nabar Enrique Martinez makes minimum wage in less than 3.2 minutes. That’s 18.93 times minimum wage.
In 2013, the City of Redlands had 387 former employees who received $15,527,087.21 in pensions.
City of Redlands employees that receive pensions in excess of $100,000.00 – 2013
| Name | Years of Service | Year of Retirement | Total pension & benefits amount |
| James R Bueermann | 31.83 | 2010 | $201,097.32 |
| Thomas P Fitzmaurice | 31.18 | 2010 | $199,982.88 |
| Cletus F Hyman | 33.6 | 2008 | $184,896.24 |
| John L Habant | 29.57 | 2005 | $181,827.12 |
| Larry P Egan | 32 | 2008 | $181,746.12 |
In 2013, Redlands Unified School District had 3,077 employees who received $134,185,808.13
in pay & benefits.
Redlands Unified School District employees that were paid in excess of $100,000.00 – 2013
| Employee Name | Job Title | Base Pay | Overtime Pay | Other Pay | Total Benefits | Total Pay | Total Pay Benefits |
| Rhodes, Loraine D | Superintendent | $183,015.36 | $0.00 | $10,800.00 | $25,740.36 | $193,815.36 | $219,555.72 |
| Mason, Bradley S | Asst. Superintendent | $148,896.84 | $0.00 | $9,106.68 | $22,924.52 | $158,003.52 | $180,928.04 |
| Robertson Phillips, Sabine B | Asst. Superintendent | $148,896.84 | $0.00 | $9,106.68 | $22,924.52 | $158,003.52 | $180,928.04 |
| Rivera, Christina M | Comprehensive Hs Pri | $135,222.42 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $21,797.42 | $135,222.42 | $157,019.84 |
| Cavanagh, Bernard A | Comprehensive Hs Pri | $132,642.66 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $23,038.89 | $132,642.66 | $155,681.55 |
In 2013, Redlands Unified School District had 558 former employees who received $26,856,291.95 in pensions.
Redlands Unified School District employees that receive pensions in excess of $100,000.00 – 2013
| Name | Pension | Benefits | Total pension & Benefits |
| Robert Hodges | $183,112.32 | N/A | $183,112.32 |
| Yolanda Contreras | $142,895.28 | N/A | $142,895.28 |
| Forrest Cullen | $129,093.06 | N/A | $129,093.06 |
| Michael Munoz | $123,443.16 | N/A | $123,443.16 |
| Linda Frye | $120,779.64 | N/A | $120,779.64 |
City ends negotiations on retirement contributions
10:00 PM PDT on Monday, April 25, 2011 – The Press-Enterprise
Negotiations to get all nine employee bargaining groups in Redlands to agree to pay 4 percent of their retirement contributions for one year have failed, Mayor Pete Aguilar has announced.
Aguilar and Councilman Paul Foster have been meeting with representatives of the employee unions for about four months. Aguilar said they set a deadline of April 15 for reaching the agreement, which could have saved the city $1.28 million over one year.
“Out of nine groups, we heard multiple no’s and one yes,” he said Monday. “The rest were somewhere in the middle.
The employee groups were under no obligation to agree. Most are working under contracts that don’t expire until 2012.
The city pays all of the employee and employer contributions to PERS. …
Pension pressure
10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 – The Press-Enterprise
… The city now pays employees’ share of yearly pension contributions, worth 7 to 9 percent of salary. A city budget report last month said that requiring employees to put just 1 percent of pay toward retirement costs would save the city $219,000 a year. If employees paid their full share, that step would save the city in excess of $1.5 million a year, judging by the city’s figures — far more savings than all of the budget cuts up for discussion on Tuesday. There is no reason a city awash in red ink should pay any portion of employees’ pension contributions. Private-sector workers have to pay toward their own retirements; asking public employees — instead of taxpayers — to do the same is hardly a Draconian demand.
Redlands should also cut pension costs in other ways, by limiting the size of pensions workers can accumulate and raising the retirement age to private-sector levels.
Police Chief Jim Bueerman, who retired last year after 32 years of service, exemplifies the issue. He will collect an annual pension worth at least 90 percent of his nearly $216,000 salary last year, for the rest of his life — and he is only 54 years old. Such generosity is pricey: The city’s yearly police and fire pension costs combined have grown by about $2 million since 2004-05, totaling more than $6.6 million this year. Yet since 2007-08, the city’s annual revenue has dropped by more than $9 million. …
Paycheck bloat
10:00 PM PST on Sunday, December 19, 2010 – The Press-Enterprise
Redlands’ finances are on an unsustainable course, despite the small bit of good fiscal news the City Council heard last week. Waiting for better times or a taxpayer bailout are not responsible options. Instead, the council needs to confront the city’s central fiscal issue: unaffordable employee pay and benefits. …
That effort has to start with salaries and benefits, which account for 68 percent of the city’s general fund spending. Redlands boosted employee compensation in the 1990s without any way to pay for that increase, leading to perpetual budget shortfalls. …