$800,000-a-year Calif. city manager to get $600,000-a-year pension for life plus benefits (LATimes)

[mike r]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0722-bell-pension-20100722,0,5742952.story

July 22, 2010
Huge checks won't end with Bell officials' ouster
When he steps down, City Manager Robert Rizzo will get at least $600,000 a year in pension checks, making him the highest-paid retiree in the state. The police chief will get more than $411,000.
By Catherine Saillant and Jeff Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times

Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, whose nearly $800,000-a-year salary has ignited community protests and calls for his resignation, will become the highest-paid retiree in California's pension system when he steps down.

Rizzo, whose forced-resignation could come as early as Thursday, would be entitled to a pension of at least $600,000 a year for the rest of his life, according to retirement calculations made by The Times and reviewed by pension experts. That would make him the highest-paid retiree in CalPERS, outstripping the $509,664 paid each year to Vernon's former city manager Bruce Malkenhorst Sr.

Not far behind would be Randy Adams, the man Rizzo hired as Bell police chief last July. If Adams steps down, his pension would be worth an estimated $411,300, placing him just behind Malkenhorst on the list of top CalPERS beneficiaries. Taking the Bell job was a good career move for Adams, 59. In just one year on the payroll, he more than doubled his retirement pay.

As debate over public-sector pensions takes center stage this election year, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other leaders pushing for reductions at the state and local levels, the potential pension checks waiting for Bell's embattled leaders have taken even veteran pension watchers by surprise.

"It's outrageous and unsustainable," said pension-reform advocate Marcia Fritz, noting that Rizzo, 55, could receive $26 million in pension income if he lives a normal life span. "High salaries last just a few years — high pensions last for a lifetime."...

[Hannah Bell]

1. wow. he's only worked in that position since 1993. how do you get a full pension

for 17 years?

looks like the city council ($100K/year for part-time) & the city manager & other officials were scratching each other's backs something fierce.

in such a small, poor city, where did all the money come from?


Bell has less than 40,000 residents. Its per capita income is about half that for the U.S.

By comparison, Manhattan Beach, a far wealthier city with about 7,000 fewer people, paid its most recent city manager $257,484 a year. The city manager of Long Beach, with a population close to 500,000, earns $235,000 annually.

The salaries do not appear to violate any laws, said Dave Demerjian, head of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Public Integrity Division. State law governs how much city council members can be paid, but not the amounts that council members decide to pay administrators, Demerjian said.

The district attorney is looking into the salaries of Bell's City Council members -- about $100,000 a year for part-time positions. Normally, council members in a city the size of Bell would be paid about $400 a month, Demerjian said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/robert-rizzo-bell-city-ma_n_647826.html.

[oldlib]

16. When I graduated from college in 1958

I had two options for employment. The private sector paid well, except that they did not offer job security. The other option was government service, that didn't pay as well, but the position was secure. In the interim someone decided that government employees should make the equivalent salaries as the private sector. This means good pay with job security and it is totally absurd.

[napi21]

2. It's no dmn wonder Calif doesn't have any $$! When in the hell

did they start paying their public servants that much? can almost understand the Police Chief getting his $400. He not onl has a desk job, he risks his life, but the City Mgr at $800,000? WHY?? THAT's fing nuts!

It sounds tome like tey could put together a balanced budgt simply by reducing some of their executive salaries to something rational!

[Journeyman]

3. Makes me wonder if Rizzo turned himself in to The Times. . .

maybe he decided playing golf and fishing was a better use of his time than working as a city manager. He gets $600,000 to sit and soak up rays. Why he should he put in 40 hours a week for only 33% more pay. And who couldn't make a decent retirement from $600,000 a year (and, I believe, medical insurance and assorted other perks).

[HooptieWagon]

4. I hope there's a legal challenge.

There's definitely something wrong going on there...

[girl gone mad]

10. The town needs to declare BK..

and get out of those obligations.

[notesdev]

5. And you wonder why public employees get no love

this shit is running rampant everywhere, bankrupting cities and states alike.

Public servant salary and benefits ought to be indexed to the salary of their private-sector peers.

[housewolf]

6. No wonder Califiornia is in so much trouble

I just don't get how a few years' stint as a mayor entitles one to a lifetime pension... pensions are supposed to be for 20 - 30 years service, not ONE year!

[aquart]

7. Now there's a contract that needs breaking.

If he's fired for cause, can he collect a pension?

I don't suppose Dick Cheney would invite him to go hunting.

[Beaverhausen]

8. Bell city manager charged with misdemeanor drunk driving

http://www.dailypilot.com/news/tn-hbi-0729-bell-20100729,0,2362437.story

The city manager of Bell, who has been under fire since a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that he earns $787,000 a year, was arrested in March on suspicion of drunk driving after he allegedly crashed into a residential mailbox in Huntington Beach, police confirmed Thursday.

Robert Rizzo, 56, was arrested in March with a blood alcohol-level of .28, more than three times the legal limit, in the 1900 block of Pine Street at 9:50 p.m. March 6, said officials said.

Rizzo is a Huntington Beach resident.

A resident called police after a man, alleged to be Rizzo, crashed into their mailbox and then drove into an alley, said police Lt. Russell Reinhart.

more at the link

[girl gone mad]

11. Here's the mugshot..

It doesn't look or sound like he takes very good care of himself, so at least Bell has that going for them (might not be around long enough to collect on the pension).

[Beaverhausen]

9. Bell council seeks resignations of 3 city officials

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/21/local/la-me-721-bell-20100721

ell City Council members are seeking the resignations of the city manager and two other top officials amid growing public outcry over salaries that appear to be among the highest in the nation, according to three sources close to the discussions.

The embattled council directed its attorney to immediately begin negotiating with the three.

At a closed-door meeting Monday night, as hundreds of residents protested outside, council members also discussed reducing their own pay. Most of them make $100,000 a year.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has inquired about the salaries.

Resigning would make City Manager Robert Rizzo, Police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia eligible for lucrative pensions. But the three also have contracts that protect them from being fired without cause.

As a result, unless they agree to resign, the city would face the prospect of buying out their contracts, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional payments.

None of the three officials could be reached for comment Tuesday.
more at the link

[Historic NY]

12. He makes more than POTUS & manages less.

[quaker bill]

13. This needs looking into

but one must be careful about the secretary who has put in a normal career at reasonable wages and will only get a pittance in retirement when one reforms a pension system. The media loves to make a big issue about the few dozen who manage to game the system and will call often enough for sweeping reforms that damage the honest and hardworking.

Something should be done about those who game the system to preserve the funds for those who do not.

[hobbit709]

14. Makes you wonder what he's got on the city council.

[DCBob]

15. WTF? How on earth does something like this happen?

Sickening.

[Vinca]

17. That's amazing. Wonder what kind of haul the meter maids get?

[niyad]

20. there was a story on DU last week about the $9.00/hour snack bar worker who was laid

off because of the city's financial troubles--but they can keep this thief (that pic makes him look like some real low-life, doesn't it?)

will see if I can find the link (not sure I bookmarked it)

[Festivito]

18. If this were a legal jury award, it would be overturned.

This is jaw-dropping ridiculous.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Did he do dirty work for the Commissioners and

community leaders? Usually a City Manager has to be willing to go along with some serious local corruption to earn that kind of money.

[niyad]

21. here is the link to the original story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8761850