Calif. City Officials' Fat Salaries Spur Investigation

(July 27) -- The low-income city of Bell, Calif., which paid exorbitant salaries to its top officials, including nearly $800,000 a year to the city manager, has been under investigation by prosecutors for four months, it was revealed late today.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told KFI radio that after receiving a complaint in March, investigators began looking at the salaries that city officials were awarding themselves in a tiny city with a median household income of just $29,946.

"Now, the heart of this thing is whether or not the salaries paid ... comes back to stealing or not," said Cooley, who is also a candidate for California attorney general. "We've been out there three and a half to four months pursuing this and it seems to get bigger and bigger."

Five years ago, residents voted to become a charter city, meaning that Bell would be governed by its own rules without a salary cap for top officials. Only 400 people, or roughly 1 percent of the city's population, voted in the election.

Today, salaries for Bell's top officials have skyrocketed and the city's property tax rate is higher than Beverly Hills'.

On Monday, state Attorney General Jerry Brown announced an investigation that included a 48-hour deadline for city officials to turn over documents.

"This has outraged people across the state," Brown said at a press conference. "We are dealing in a very uncharted area of law. It's uncharted because no one thought to pay themselves $800,000 a year."

In addition, California Controller John Chiang arrived in Bell today, ready to begin an audit requested by the interim city manager, who stepped in after the Los Angeles Times reported news of the salaries, resulting in the resignations of the city's top three earners:

• Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo ($787,637)
• Police Chief Randy Adams ($457,000)
• Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia ($376,288)

By contrast, President Barack Obama earns $400,000 a year and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, if he hadn't declined a salary, would earn $173,987.

"Obviously this is a very urgent and serious situation," Chiang told reporters.

While officials were earning high salaries, a 2009 report showed that the city cut its social services by $593,438 and public safety by $228,888, resulting in layoffs, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Monday night, City Council members arrived for a regular meeting and were greeted by an angry, chanting mob of 2,000 who demanded their resignation. All but one of the council members earned about $100,000 a year for part-time work.

The meeting lasted until midnight as a parade of residents vilified the politicians during a public comments segment. In the end, none of the council resigned, but two members agreed to cut their salaries to zero while three others said they would take about $600 a month.

A large portion of their salaries came from various commissions that the council members would appoint themselves to, attending meetings that lasted only a few minutes, the Times reported.

Four days ago, Mayor Oscar Hernandez issued a press release criticizing the Times' "skewed view of the facts" and defending Rizzo, saying he "delivered Bell from a $20 million shortfall" and "began his career at Bell as the lowest-paid city manager in the country."

Rizzo now has a house in Huntington Beach worth $903,000 and a horse farm in Washington state worth $930,000, according to property records.

Despite the fact that Rizzo, Adams and Spaccia no longer draw salaries, Californians will pay dearly for those three top salaries because the state has a pooled pension system, said Marcia Fritz, president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility. The organization has been fighting to overhaul the state's pension system, which many say is bankrupting California.

"At a minimum, [Rizzo's] retirement will be about $710,000 [yearly], but if he took advantage of all the options available to him, it could be $884,000," she said.

"Rizzo probably knew all the 400 people who voted for the charter city," Fritz said. "The City Council immediately got increases in their pay, and the following year he got them to change his pension formula, which gave him a 35 percent increase."

Calls to the interim city manager and the mayor were not immediately returned today. Rizzo could not be reached for comment.

Other allegations of malfeasance surfaced today as KFI radio reported that two Bell police officers allegedly went door to door in a recent election, trying to get residents to sign absentee ballots to vote for a certain council candidate.