As top Bell officials earned massive salaries, city workers were laid off

[mike r]

Source: Los Angeles Times

At the same time that top Bell officials were receiving some of the fattest municipal salaries in the nation, the city cut spending on police, social services, and parks and recreation, according to interviews and records reviewed by The Times. While City Manager Robert Rizzo was receiving more than $700,000 a year, Rosario Torres was laid off from her $9-an-hour job preparing children for kindergarten. "They tell you they don't have the money to pay you, and you think 'OK, I understand, they just don't have the money,' " Torres said. "But I never imagined they were making so much money themselves. It's incredible."

The cuts underscore questions about how Bell handled its finances in recent years. City officials have defended Rizzo's high salary, saying his leadership allowed Bell to avoid many of the cuts and financial problems surrounding cities have faced amid the recession. Rizzo told The Times earlier this month that Police Chief Randy Adams was brought in to turn around a department riddled with problems. The city had enough money to pay Adams $457,000 a year, yet it had earlier reduced funding for officer training, such as quarterly sessions at the firing range.

Details of the cuts came from interviews and from Bell's Comprehensive Financial Report for fiscal year 2009, the latest available. The report shows that community services, including social services and recreation programs, were cut by 21%, or $593,438, while public safety took a 3.7% hit, or $228,888. Police training was whacked by 58%. The salaries of Rizzo, Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia are equal to about 10% of Bell's $15.9-million general fund budget... Mayor Oscar Hernandez has defended Rizzo's salary, citing "15 years of balanced budgets" and the transformation of Bell into a "model of financial prudence."

Earlier this month, in an interview before the scandal broke, Hernandez, Rizzo and Councilman Luis Artiga boasted about the city's services, parks and sound financial footing. Rizzo said that no full-time employees had been laid off and that there were no furloughs. Gilbert Jara, head of the Bell Police Officers Assn., said the cuts included layoffs of some non-sworn employees, and have had other ill effects... Many of the department's 24 authorized positions are left perennially unfilled, he said, and officers drive patrol cars "with like 200,000 miles on them."...


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bell-cuts-20100727,0,5834864.story

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City Council members in Bell unanimously agreed Monday to give up their controversial $96,000-a-year salaries and instead draw only $673 a month – a 90% decrease.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/bell-council-agrees-to-roll-back-its-salary-90-.html

[KT2000]

1. Incredible!

Of course they are out and out thieves but their sense of entitlement likely rationalized their behavior.
But maybe we have gotten past the need to rationalize such things as it more and more becomes the norm.
Haywood's $18 M golden parachute for getting fired is in everyone's face tonight - especially those out of work on the Gulf.

[defendandprotect]

2. Our government is rotted out by the corruption of BRIBERY . . .and elite wealth --

[Evasporque]

3. Small Government Big Salaries!

Eliminate the funding and give yourself pay raises...