A former deputy police chief in Redlands, California, was the state's highest-paid public employee in 2025, earning approximately $1.26 million in total compensation, according to state data. This figure surpasses the combined salaries of the mayors of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.
The state controller’s office reported that the former deputy chief received $1.2 million in wages, which included $890,467 in "other pay," $231,099 in accrued sick and vacation leave, and $81,804 in regular salary. The city of Redlands also contributed $55,864 towards retirement and health benefits, bringing the total compensation to $1.26 million.
In comparison, the combined compensation for the mayors of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, including benefits, was approximately $1.2 million. A spokesperson for the Redlands Police Department was unavailable for immediate comment.
The data, first reported by the San Bernardino Sun, was released last month by the state controller's office, which began tracking public employee salaries in 2010 following revelations of exorbitant pay in the city of Bell, California. The agency collects and publishes compensation data for over 2 million public workers across more than 5,000 agencies statewide.
While the state does not identify employees by name in its published data, Transparent California, a nonprofit public employee pay database, identified the Redlands official as Travis Martinez. City records and the Redlands News indicate that Martinez retired in April 2025 as part of a $871,956 settlement related to a whistleblower claim against the city. Martinez was also unavailable for immediate comment.
Following the former Redlands deputy police chief, the second-highest-paid employee in 2025 was a battalion chief with the Los Angeles Fire Department, and the third was a transmission and distribution supervisor with the L.A. Department of Water and Power.
