San Bernardino among 15 cities that failed to report its salaries to state

San Bernardino was the largest of five Southern California cities that failed to report their employees’ salaries and benefits this year in violation of a state transparency law.

Colton, Murrieta, Artesia and Signal Hill also were among 15 cities statewide that did not comply with the law by an April 30 deadline, according to the California State Controller’s Office.

By law, cities have to report the payroll information to the state controller annually. Those figures are publicly released in a database with the employees’ names removed. The state controller began publishing compensation data in response to outrageous salaries uncovered in the city of Bell.

All of the noncompliant cities could face fines of up to $5,000. They may also have to foot the bill for travel expenses and staff time if the state controller sends its own team down to extract the data, according to Taryn Kinney, a spokeswoman for Controller Betty Yee.

The state Controller’s Office attempted to contact San Bernardino several times about submitting its data to the public pay database, Kinney said.

“Our staff have not had any communication with the city,” Kinney said in an email.

Bill Essayli, chief of staff for San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia, said city officials only learned they had missed the deadline when contacted by a reporter this week. The city is in the process of hiring a new finance director and the annual reporting was overlooked during the transition, he said.

“It was just an oversight,” he said. “We’re working with the Controller’s Office to get the report filed as quickly as possible.”

Colton, also in San Bernardino County, submitted the required information in February and has not heard from the state controller since then, according to City Manager Bill Smith. He was not aware that his city had been listed as “noncompliant” by the state agency.

“We did file it and we have confirmation from the Controller’s Office that we did file it,” he said.

According to Kinney, the state controller needs to verify the accuracy of certain figures provided by Colton before the data can be published. The state has been unable to reach city employees so far.

In Riverside County, Murrieta similarly did not respond to questions from the state controller after it submitted its records earlier this year, Kinney said. The city also is listed as noncompliant.

City officials did not return a call for comment.

In Los Angeles County, Signal Hill and Artesia missed the deadline, but are now working with the state to get their reports online. Artesia submitted its data on Thursday morning and it is currently under review. If approved, it will be published online next week.

Signal Hill was unable to submit their report because of an issue with its payroll system and is expected to submit its report once the problem is resolved, according to Kinney.