Bell council members cut salaries 90%; some will forgo pay
A Times report revealed that the city's top officials received some of the highest municipal wages in the nation. City Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo made $787,637 a year, almost twice the salary of President Obama; Police Chief Randy Adams made $457,000, 50% more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck; and Assistant City Manager Spaccia made $376,288, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County.
All three resigned last week.
In agreeing to sweep back their salaries, Councilmen Luis Artiga and George Mirabal put themselves on par with Lorenzo Velez, who has been paid $673 a month since he was appointed to the council last summer. Velez said he was unaware his colleagues were making so much.
Ali Saleh, a member of the Bell Assn. to Stop The Abuse said Monday that the group welcomes the salary cut. But he added, "It's not enough. The people don't trust them anymore. They lost complete trust from the community, and for the better of the community, they should resign."
The group also demands "a full disclosure of administrative salaries, and any retainers or project contracts provided by outside consultants, followed by a forensic audit by a neutral third party."
Saleh threatened council members with a recall effort if they did not order a forensic audit of the city's books and disclose administrative salaries as well as contracts awarded to outside consultants.
Council members drove up their salaries by earning stipends for serving on various boards or commissions, all of which generally met — often very briefly — during council meetings. In their agreement Monday, council members said the $673-a-month salary will reflect their total pay.
Earlier Monday, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown had subpoenaed hundreds of documents from Bell as part of his office's investigation into the high salaries.
"How did they come to the conclusion that public officials should make that much money?" Brown said at a news conference at his Los Angeles office.
Among the documents Brown has demanded are e-mails, employment contracts, ordinances and resolutions, some going back to January 2003. Some must be turned in by Wednesday, and others by Aug. 6.
"Hundreds of thousands of public dollars were paid out under suspicious circumstances," said Brown, the Democratic nominee for governor.
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