General (21)
Susana Barrios
From:Stephanie Mercadante <burglin.stephanie@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, June 23, 2026 6:48 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] On Behalf of Dave Duran, District 1, Councilmember Ryan Balius
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
For public comment on June 23, 2026:
Last year, under this mayor and City Council, Anaheim faced a budget deficit of approximately $60
million. This year, we're facing another deficit of roughly $40 million.
That's nearly $100 million in budget shortfalls over just two years.
Yet somehow, Debbie Moreno—the person responsible for overseeing the City's finances—received
a raise. Not during a period of fiscal stability, and not after eliminating a structural deficit. But, instead,
while Anaheim was facing its second consecutive year of massive budget shortfalls.
And this wasn't announced to the public with any fanfare, discussion, or openly debated. It was
maliciously buried in personnel documents presented by Human Resources Director Linda Andal and
approved by this Council on April 21, making it difficult for the public to see and easier for the public
to miss unless they happened to dig through the supporting materials themselves.
In 2012, the position Debbie Moreno now holds was approved at an annual salary of approximately
$182,000. Today, the maximum compensation for that same position exceeds $314,000—a 73%
increase.
Linda and Debbie are claiming this raise is due to her performing both Finance Director and
Treasurer roles- but here's the truth - she was already given a 10% raise for that years ago. Another
example of how the mayor and council have failed to be good fiduciaries of public funds. How does
this increase make any sense?
Last year, the City balanced its budget by relying on one-time funding sources. This year, we're once
again facing a major budget gap. The question isn't whether the budget can be balanced on paper.
The question is whether Anaheim has a long-term financial strategy or whether we're continuing to
rely on temporary fixes while operating with a structural deficit.
So what exactly is the City rewarding?
And while we're discussing financial responsibility and oversight, let's talk about the City's purchasing-
card program. According to public reporting, Anaheim employees charged approximately $17
million on City purchasing cards between 2023 and 2025.
Former City Manager Jim Vanderpool and Public Information Officer Mike Lyster publicly stated that
credit-card audits had already been conducted. The city website states that Mayor Aitken led a series
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of transparency reforms at City Hall in 2023. Yet residents still have not been informed about the
results of those audits or whether any meaningful oversight has occurred.
If transparency reform is actually true…Where are the audits? Why haven't they been presented
to this Council? Why haven't they been released to the public?
Residents deserve answers.
At some point, this mayor and council need to ask a simple question: What performance metrics
justify these raises? Because if taxpayers are expected to live within their means, City Hall should be
expected to do the same.
Maybe the problem isn't the budget.
Perhaps the problem is the remarkably low standard by which this mayor and council measure
performance and accountability.
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