LA city boss gave herself sweet $150K raise in secret backroom deal: whistleblower

A Los Angeles city bureaucrat is under fire for securing herself an eye-watering pay raise behind closed doors -— to the tune of roughly $150,000 — even as former employees accuse her of harassment and fudging budget numbers, according to a bombshell whistleblower report.Alma Martinez, city manager of El Monte in the San Gabriel Valley, allegedly arranged a hasty backroom deal to spike her taxpayer-sponsored pay package to a whopping $430,000 — including roughly $50,000 in back pay and other platinum perks like a car allowance and hefty severance package — in the working-class city of roughly 120,000, where the median household income hovers at about $65,000.Martinez’s alleged conduct was detailed by whistleblower Ed Rardin, a local code enforcement officer who filed numerous complaints about Martinez to law enforcement and ethics watchdogs.

She is “the primary benefactor of a lot of El Monte shenanigans,” Rardin claims.According to Rardin, a lifelong El Monte resident and local Latter-Day Saints Bishop, Martinez hastily convened a mystery closed-door meeting in May that immediately raised alarm bells for local watchdogs, including Mayor Jessica Ancona.

At that meeting, Rardin claims, Martinez locked in a salary bump nearly unheard of in the public sector — raising her total compensation to nearly $430,000 including benefits from $280,000, according to Mayor Jessica Ancona, who blasted the deal as a “blank check” on social media.The sweet deal included a 25% increase to Martinez’s base salary worth $70,000 annually plus a host of gimmes such as car and education allowances, lifetime medical benefits, repayment of a temporary salary reduction during Covid, 18 months’ severance — and a guarantee that she’ll make at least 20% more than any other city executive, per the mayor.

“All of this happening … after most city employees received only a 5% raise [and] while our city is defending two lawsuits involving the city manager,” Ancona...