I’m moving to Bell, California and running for City Council. A report by the LA Times sparked a protest at last night’s council meeting when it was learned that the Bell, California city manager makes nearly $800,000 dollars annually. That’s not all, the police chief of the 38,000 resident Town makes over $450,000 per year and each city council member rakes in $100,000 for their part time gig. Good work if you can get it.
Bell is a mostly Hispanic town of just under 40,000 people about 10 miles southeast of Los Angeles. At the City Council meeting last night it was like the final scene of Frankenstein, pitchforks and torches. The crowd showed up to call for the resignations of the Mayor, City Manager, and other city officials.
When the crowd arrived and began to fill the venue, council members adjourned for a private session. The attorney for the city said they were not allowed to talk about salaries without advance notice. At one point the Fire Department wanted to cancel the meeting because the crowd had become so large they were blocking the door. The “brave” city council returned saying that they would have a report on salaries at the next meeting and they would take public comments at that time. Somebody please get a video. The meeting will be held July 26th.
The Los Angeles County DA has opened an investigation into the Bell, California city officials pay. State Assemblyman Hector De La Torre says that state law limits council members salaries to several hundred dollars per month. I don’t think that adds up to nearly $100,000 per year. You can read more about this abuse of power here.
The Mayor of Bell, California said in an interview that “Our streets are cleaner, we have lovely parks, better lighting throughout the area, our community is better. These things just don’t happen, they happen because he had a vision and made it happen.” Yep, that should fix it.
Probably the most outrageous of all is the Bell, California City Manager’s $800,000 per year salary; not to mention his automatic 12% raise annually. Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 to be exact. While the Police Chief pulls in $457,000, way more than even the Los Angeles Police Chief. The video below is just an aside about the Mayor of Bell.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I suppose it’s a good gig so long as they pay you in cash and not some IOU.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
yeah, California’s going broke alright. I wonder how much $ is being slushed into this little town.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
It costs a lot to create saved jobs.
Have a heart.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
You know it is really a shame that these people are making that much money for doing very little work and people down the street are most likely going hungry
July 20th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Bell Property Crimes 439 1159.6 3906.1
Bell Burglaries 126 332.8 813.2
Bell Larceny/Thefts 117 309 2601.7
Bell Motor Vehicle Thefts 196 517.7 501.5
Bell Arsons 1 0 0 N/A
http://bell.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
This spot on the map could get by with Barney Fife and a volunteer fire dept
July 21st, 2010 at 6:41 am
This is why CA is going down the tubes…get out this ship is sinking!!
July 21st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
The big question is: Where is the money coming from? The residents are poor to begin with. It’s likely not from property taxes, either. While what these politicians did might be legal technically (though VERY unethical), their source of money might not be legal.
I suspect they’re using some of the $60 million in bond money they’ve gotten in the past six years. That would be grossly illegal.
July 21st, 2010 at 6:10 pm
The way this Economy is Going this people should be put to dead by an Army Squadron
July 21st, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I believe it is time to start publishing ALL government officials names, their salaries, and their accomplishments. We also need to publish all the perks they receive from special interest groups. We must make them accountable for the public’s dollars they pay themselves.
Our country is sinking mostly because of all the behind the scenes corruption thats gone on for years. I am proud of President Obama’s philosophy of TRANSPARENCY!
These City of Bell public officials, the city manager, the chief of police, and all their cronies need to return the money to the people and they all need turn in their resignation or be fired!
July 24th, 2010 at 4:24 am
There’s a book identified as “Avoid Retirement And Remain Alive”. The notion would be the actuality that retirement has no place in modern society. In the event you can easily make operate pleasant by balancing it against the other points you’ll like to accomplish, then you definitely have the ability to reside like you’ve got every one of the time inside the globe.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:59 am
I think all City officials should receive 75% pay cuts across the board from the Mayor/Council down to the Police Chief.I bet the Fire Chief doesn’t make almost .5 million a year.A big city Police Chief may top out at $200,000, $450,000 is robbery to the tax payers.
All departments in the city should be evaluated to pay scales be cut accordinly.