Overpaid city officials

[Rumpole]

City Manager $787,637 per year

Asst't City Mgr $376,288 "

Police Chief $457,000 "

No Fire Dept, LA CO Fire Dept provides fire services

City Council members (part-time) $100,000 (normal $400 per mo)

LA Times article of 7/15/10 and CNN News story of 7/17/10 re

City of Bell, CA. Population just under 40,000. Median HOUSEHOLD income in 2008 $39,394, compared to $61,061 for California.

Police chief earns about 50% more than LAPD COP or LA CO Sheriff, more than double the salary of the New York City Police Commissioner.

The City of Bell is supposedly one of the poorest in the LA area.

[Daisy]

Interesting story, Rumpole, thanks. I'm confused, though - the article says Bell is one of the poorest city in LA county, but the Mayor says it's one of the best in the area, with 15 million in the general fund. Doesn't make sense...

The city may be poor, but it's leaders certainly aren't, huh? I can't believe the citizens of that city ("about 90% Latino and 53% foreign-born) aren't up in arms about this. They are being ripped off big time and either don't care or think their leaders are worth that amount of money. Wow...

Is a city manager worth $800,000?

[Rumpole]

The Bell City Council will hold a closed meeting to discuss the firing of the City Mgr, Ass't City Mgr & Police Chief. A public mtg will be held Monday.

The City Mgr was hired in 1993 at a salary of $72,000 per year. He now makes $787,637, twice the pay of the President of the US.

Asst City Mgr hired in 2003 at a salary of $102,310. She now is paid $376,288.

The city councilman quoted in the Yahoo article said, "somebody wasn't paying attention".

They have contracts preventing firing without cause. It could cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy out their contracts.

The City Mgr will get a retirement pension of $650,000 for life. If he gets fired and loses his $787,637 job he'll have to get by on his $650,000 retirement.

An example for all re what can happen when citizens don't pay attention to what their city hall employees are doing. That is the lesson to be learned here.

The councilman explained that councilors make $100,000 per year partly because they are on duty 24 hours and get constituent phone calls at all hours. If FIFTY constituents called a councilperson in one month they'd be paid appr. $167 per call. With this rationale police should be paid the same or more.

[Murphy]

Remember the old saying "you get what you pay for". I thought it was intersting that Bell CA also has $15,000,000 in reservses while Maywood CA, immediately to it's north is bankrupt and fired all city employees.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_622098.html

Makes one wonder where the source of all this revenue comes from.

[mfish]

When I first read this the other day, I thought it was ridiculous that the citizens allowed this to go as far as it did.

[Rumpole]

Revenue came from grants.

[Rumpole]

Per AP, 7/23/10, after a lengthy closed city council session the City Mgr, Ass't City Mgr & Police Chief of Bell, CA have agreed to resign. No severance pay.

Councilors may even rethink their $100,000 salaries.

[Daisy]

Stealing from the people you supposedly represent works well when those people don't keep tabs on you. Then someone catches on and the scam is over...

LA suburb residents march over high city salaries

[jim]

After a huge public awakening and outcry in Bell, CA City Council met and decided to lower their $100,000 salaries. The City Mgr, Ass't City Mgr & COP are gone.

[Rumpole]

Bell City Council lowered their pay from $96,999 per year to $10,000 a year.
CA law allowed them to set their pay in a closed meeting. Bell citizens want them to resign.

Where was the local newspaper while this was all going on? Laying off city employees and raising taxes while those in city hall were giving themselves extravagant salaries.

Former city mgr could get 30 million dollars in retirement if he lives to age 80.