A controversial audit that city officials have not released is sparking concerns as to whether Santa Ana officials are spending too much or too little to insure their over 400 local police officers, employees and retirees.
It’s the biggest question emerging over a controversial audit that initially found Santa Ana officials overpaid $3 million for police health benefits in 2023, pitting the police union – one of the biggest spenders in local elections – against one of its biggest critics on the city council.
The controversy is playing out in a city that has been plagued by a host of police accountability issues this past year during a time when city leaders are also bracing for an expected $30 million budget deficit in a couple years.
The original audit by LSL accountants and dated July 29 led Councilman Ben Vazquez on Sept. 29 to publicly call on State Attorney General Rob Bonta to probe the spending of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association over the last decade.
[Read: Santa Ana Councilman Calls on State Attorney General to Probe Police Union Spending]
On Tuesday, Vazquez publicly said the Santa Ana Police Officers Association has operated the fund without any public checks for three decades and continued to push for a state audit.
He also suggested that the union forced auditors to change their findings to now conclude the city didn’t overpay for the benefits.
“It is not normal to have no oversight for over 30 years. These are public resources,” he said at the meeting.
“Now we see what happened in the last few days, where the POA went back to the auditor and had the six and a half million trust fund erased and now there’s no transparency and for this, I called the DOJ, especially now to investigate.”
The police union spent over $70,000 opposing Vazquez’s failed mayoral campaign against the police union-backed Mayor Valerie Amezcua.
Mayor Pro Tem Benjamin Vazquez sits at the dais during the Santa Ana City Council meeting on OCt. 7, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
The original audit provided by Vazquez showed the union had about $6.3 million in investments in a Charles Schwab brokerage account. The revised audit doesn’t.
It also found city 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.
Yet the police officers’ union argues the audit was wrong, accusing Vazquez of playing politics with their health care.
John Kachirisky, president of the police union, called Vazquez’s remarks at Tuesday’s city council meeting a “slanderous lie” saying he is deflecting from his reckless behavior.
“He should have just apologized and admitted his mistake. Ben Vazquez loves to preach about accountability but does not want to hold himself accountable for his own reckless actions,” Kachirisky said in a Wednesday email response.
“He knows he is lying, he should be ashamed of himself.”
A Revised Audit?
Union leadership last week claimed the city was not overpaying the union for health care benefits but underpaying them, noting they invested the city’s contributions to set up a reserve to make up the difference of what they actually need.
Kachirisky said in a Tuesday email that the city has been underpaying for their officers health benefits for a couple years based on a compromise made at the negotiation table and because of rising health care premium costs.
He adds it’s time to renegotiate.
“I would like for us to maybe come back to the table to see if we could do better to provide health care for our sworn police officers who put their lives on the line every day and our non-sworn employees who support the work of the police to keep our city safe,” he said in an email response to questions.
This week, police union leaders put out a news release and sent out a revised version of the audit dated Sept. 30 in which auditors seemingly walk back findings that city officials overpaid for the health benefits two years ago.
“We believe these findings underscore our commitment to fiscal responsibility. The reserves have been carefully managed and used solely to provide stable health benefits for our members,” reads the Monday news release
“Without these reserves, the financial burden on our members would increase significantly.”
Public Information Officer Paul Eakins at the Santa Ana City Council meeting on Oct. 7, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Voice of OC has tried multiple times to obtain the revised audit from City Spokesman Paul Eakins for the past two days who has yet to provide or confirm the document. City Council members are also not speaking or saying much about the revised document.
In the revised document provided by Santa Ana’s police union, auditors say they erroneously included the brokerage account as part of their trust fund balance in their initial version of the report which impacted their findings.
“New circumstances and information were made known to us that were not disclosed at the
time of our initial engagement,” reads the revised audit.
“These newly disclosed matters impacted the interpretation and relevance of the procedures
performed and the results reported herein, as such certain procedures in this revised report have been removed as they are no longer relevant, and the calculation of excess fund balance has been revised.”
Principals with LSL – the firm that did the audit – did not respond to emailed questions on the matter Tuesday morning.
Kachirisky said the police union wants Vazquez to apologize and that they welcome the state attorney to conduct his own probe.
“It is apparent he did not educate himself or try to truly understand how our trust functions while making inflammatory and untrue remarks, causing harm to our reputation,” reads his email response to questions.
“We are confident it would come out no different than the revised audit and would only be a waste of taxpayer time and money, but we would not oppose it.”
He also said the union is requesting the city pay the $571,00 they withheld from the association’s health benefit fund that covers about 450 employees plus their families and retirees because of the auditor’s original findings.
“We have begun the process of asking for it back through the proper channels and are hopeful for an amicable resolution with the city on this matter,” reads Kachirisky response.
What Do City Officials Say? What Does The Contract Say?
Councilmember Phil Bacerra sits at the dais during the Oct. 7, 2025 Santa Ana City Council meeting. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Hours after Kachirisky’s email, Councilman Phil Bacerra – a key political ally who has benefited from substantial campaign finance support from the police union – publicly lambasted Vazquez and said Bonta is too busy to probe the city’s police officer’s association.
“I think he’s got a lot of other things to do, so you probably should read the stuff before you make the calls,” Bacerra said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Nobody overpaid into the trust.”
Bacerra’s council campaign received a total of $82,000 in support from the police union in 2022.
The attorney general’s office did not respond Wednesday to whether they would investigate the union’s spending or not.
Bacerra also said Vazquez didn’t support the three and a half year police union contract in 2024 that established audits into the fund and is expected to cost the city over $27 million through the life of the agreement.
Under the city’s current contract with the police union, the police officers association is supposed to maintain a medical insurance trust fund where the city contributes nearly $1,600 for each actively employed union member every month.
The agreement also states that starting with 2023, an annual audit would be conducted to see if the city was overpaying. Following an audit, 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.
Kachirisky said the fund started in 1992, adding the arrangement for the city to contribute to the fund was not unique to Santa Ana.
“Many cities and jurisdictions contribute to providing health care for their employees by contributing to the Employees’ Union Benefits Trust Fund,” reads his email response.
“This allows the trust to negotiate the best and most affordable benefits to fit the needs of the employees, rather than the city who may not be as familiar with the particular needs of our membership.”
Santa Ana police during a public demonstration held outside of city hall in 2020. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
Kachirisky said that the current arrangement allows them to build up a reasonable reserve to offset the city’s underpayment.
“We absolutely do not believe it should be changed,” his response reads. “We would fight for our members like any union would.”
Meanwhile, Vazquez, Bacerra and all the other city council members have not responded to requests for comment on the revised audit.
Vazquez and Councilman Johnathan Hernandez said Monday they had yet to see the audit but would comment when they did.
“This is a group that has been synonymous with scandals, misconduct, lawsuits and – of course – turmoil with the city and its residents, so those are my initial thoughts,” Hernandez said in a Monday phone interview.
“I’m very, very weary of the information coming from them.”
On Tuesday, a majority of Santa Ana City Council members voted to launch a formal investigation into separate complaints by three police officers alleging they were harassed by Hernandez – a vocal police union critic.
The police union spent over $50,000 against Hernandez’s reelection campaign last year.
When reached earlier that day, Mayor Amezcua said she didn’t have a comment on the issue and that she doesn’t speak to the “media” – a statement she reiterated at Tuesday’s meeting after lambasting criticism over the city quietly returning a $7 million state grant for child care.
The police union spent over $98,000 in support of her 2024 mayoral campaign last year.
Councilmembers Thai Viet Phan and Jessie Lopez as well as police union-backed Councilmembers Bacerra and David Penaloza did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
‘Political Theater’ & Santa Ana’s ‘Boogeyman’
From left, Gerry Serrano, former president of the Santa Ana police union, attends Phil Bacerra’s (right) election night watch party in 2019. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
On Tuesday, Vazquez once again pointed to former controversial police union President Gerry Serrano’s attempt to improperly boost his pension for the need for a state investigation into union spending.
“For many years, he said he would burn the city down to reach his agenda of getting his retirement funds increased, he went after the jobs of the police chief, not one – two of city managers. He went after people’s jobs to do this,” he said
“He not only took down the city, but he dragged the police department along with him.”
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 was paid out $600,000 after filing a 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.
Bacerra called Vazquez’s actions “political theater.”
“You bring up Gerry Serrano. I don’t know if you realize it. Maybe you didn’t read the website either. He hasn’t been the POA president for a very long time,” Bacerra said.
“Maybe you should stop attacking our cops. Maybe that would help you when it comes to re-election. Instead of making up these baseless claims.”
Amezcua concurred with Bacerra about the former union president.
“Serrano has been gone a long time,” she said at the meeting.
“He lives in people’s minds like the boogeyman for free and that is absolutely ridiculous.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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