SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2024 

VOLUME 18 NO. 14VOLUME 18 NO. 14

Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity 
laws. Lic. #01991628. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled 
from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be 
made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and 
square footage are approximate. If your property is currently listed for sale this is not a solicitation.
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Sierra Madre News Briefs

PRESERVING SIERRA MADRE:

CITY MANAGER JOSE REYNOSO 
DISCUSSES THE CITY BUDGET 

WELCOME TO SIERRA MADRE!


"At the core of Sierra Madre’s financial infrastructure rests the General 
Fund, which serves as the primary funding source and sustains the day-to-
day activities and essential services vital for the community’s well-being. 
The General Fund is primarily funded by property taxes, utility users’ 
taxes, and user fees. In Fiscal Year 2023-2024, Property Taxes comprised 
$8.6 million (51%) of the budgeted General Fund revenues.

The General Fund is the City’s unrestricted source of revenue that supports 
critical city departments, including Police, Fire, Public Works, Building 
and Planning, Community Services, Library Services, IT, Finance, 
Administrative Services, Elected and Appointed. They are all dependent 
on the General Fund to ensure efficient city-wide operations.

Personnel expenses, encompassing wages and benefits, constitute the 
largest portion of spending for public entities and play a significant role 
in operational budgets. In Sierra Madre, upholding our commitment to 
delivering exceptional services requires dedicating 71% of our general 
fund to support our employees. 

The Sierra Madre Firefighters Association is proud to 
announce the addition of four Firefighters to our ranks. 
All four are highly qualified and are eager to serve the 
residents and visitors of our beautiful community.

Sawyer Wooton comes to us with experience from The 
City of Downey Fire Department as well as The City of 
Newport Beach Fire Department. Sawyer is an affable 
young man with a great work ethic, demonstrated by the 
fact that he put himself through Paramedic school at his 
own expense and time. Sawyer is highly motivated and 
is making a great contribution to our team.

Jessica Johnson is our youngest new hire and is a recent 
graduate of Cal Poly, where she was a student athlete and 
achieved a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology. “JJ” has 
made a great impression on us and we are very happy to 
have her. She will be attending Paramedic school in the 
fall.

Chris Edmondson is our most experienced new 
team member with 15 years with the Compton Fire 
Department. Chris has seen a lot of action and will 
be a valuable asset to us as he will be able to provide 
mentorship to our younger Firefighters and assist them 
with their professional development.

Russell Shirley is an Army combat veteran and served 4 
years with Cal Fire before joining The Sierra Madre Fire 
Department. He worked his first shift with us this week, 
and he is already proving his value as one of our newest 
members.

These four new Firefighters comprise nearly one third of 
our Fire Department. While we are thrilled to have them, 
the necessity of bringing on 4 new members demonstrates 
the rate of turnover we are experiencing here in Sierra 
Madre.

The Public Safety ordinance we are proposing for the 
November ballot would serve to reduce the amount of 
turnover by allowing us to retain the highly qualified 
individuals we recruit and train. Neighboring Fire 
Departments offer salary and benefits equaling 25-40% 
higher than here in Sierra Madre, which needless to say 
is highly attractive and often lures our good people away.

Larger departments such as LAFD and LA County Fire 
retire somewhere near 200 Firefighters every year, and 
that number is expected to grow in the near future. Fire 
Departments like these are increasing their recruitment 
efforts, and are targeting Firefighters like ours who have 
already have experience in the field.

If we can successfully pass the Public Safety ordinance in 
November, it will allow us to hold on to our high quality 
members by bringing us closer to the salary and benefits 
that other local departments offer.

Please consider signing our petition to put the Public 
Safety ordinance on the November Ballot. We will be at 
Kersting Court every Wednesday until May 17th, both in 
the morning and afternoon, attempting to gather enough 
signatures to qualify for the November ballot. If you’d 
like more information, please visit SMsafety.org for full 
details on our proposal.


The General Fund expenditure also highlights the allocation of resources towards 
public safety, with 51% of the General Fund dedicated to this crucial area. The 
efficient functioning of Fire and Police Departments necessitates a considerable 
workforce. With 40 dedicated, full-time men and women safeguarding and 
serving our community, our Fire and Police Department ensures unparalleled 
responsiveness, boasting an average response time of about three minutes 
combined with exceptional quality service.

(Continued on page 3)


HAPPY 101st BIRTHDAY KEN












 

 

 



 

 

 

Happy Birthday to Sierra Madrean Ken Anhalt, shown 
above with this wife Shirley, Daughter Lisa and Son Ed on 
his 95th Birthday. Today, April 6th, Ken turns 101! He has 
been honored with every civic award in Sierra Madre for his 
commitment to the beterment of the community. Today we 
salute and thank you again. Happy Birthday!

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