7 replies to this topic

[stocks]

$800,000 City Manager Quits After California Town Erupts In Protest

"my city is more corrupt than your city"

It's the end of the road for city manager Robert Rizzo, who gave up his sweet $800,000 salary today under heavy protest.
He can thank the LA Times for reporting the high pay he has received for years.
Two other overpaid employees of Bell, CA are resigning -- and none will receive a serverance package

... exposing corruption can go a ways to fixing California's budget crisis.

Look how angry the mostly poor residents of Bell were at yesterday's hearing



Read more: http://www.businessi...7#ixzz0uXn4lQm9

[colion]

And what were the good citizens of Bell doing for the past several years? Did any of them even try to find out what their government was up to? Their hands are completely clean.

[stocks]

Bell council defiantly defends outgoing officials' high salaries

The Times revealed last week that Rizzo was earning a $787,637 annual salary, Adams $457,000 and Spaccia $376,288. Experts said Rizzo appeared to be the highest-paid city manager in the nation.

Bell issued its first public statement on the salary controversy Friday, with Mayor Oscar Hernandez calling Rizzo's salary well within reason for the excellent job he did for the city of 40,000.

Robin Lowe, president of the league and a Hemet councilwoman, said she found Hernandez's defense of Rizzo's salary "nauseating."

Emotions ran so high that the council chamber was briefly cleared. Several residents taunted council members, including yelling, "Rude, rude," when Mayor Hernandez's cellphone rang. Several urged the entire council to resign.

http://www.latimes.c...8277,full.story

[OEXCHAOS]

And what were the good citizens of Bell doing for the past several years? Did any of them even try to find out what their government was up to? Their hands are completely clean.

Actually, they are. They elected officials to oversee salary decisions. They did so in good faith. If the citizens are expected to manage every hiring and firing decision, then I would propose that they should actually be empower to do so. If not, it is the elected officials' responsibility and they should be charged with malfeasance and removed, forthwith.

[colion]

And what were the good citizens of Bell doing for the past several years? Did any of them even try to find out what their government was up to? Their hands are completely clean.

Actually, they are. They elected officials to oversee salary decisions. They did so in good faith. If the citizens are expected to manage every hiring and firing decision, then I would propose that they should actually be empower to do so. If not, it is the elected officials' responsibility and they should be charged with malfeasance and removed, forthwith.

Have to disagree. In all of the places that I have lived while salary and hiring/firing decisions were made by elected officials budget items such as salaries were listed in easily obtained public records. It is hard for me to believe that this is not the case in Bell.

[stocks]

And what were the good citizens of Bell doing for the past several years? Did any of them even try to find out what their government was up to? Their hands are completely clean.

Actually, they are. They elected officials to oversee salary decisions. They did so in good faith. If the citizens are expected to manage every hiring and firing decision, then I would propose that they should actually be empower to do so. If not, it is the elected officials' responsibility and they should be charged with malfeasance and removed, forthwith.

Have to disagree. In all of the places that I have lived while salary and hiring/firing decisions were made by elected officials budget items such as salaries were listed in easily obtained public records. It is hard for me to believe that this is not the case in Bell.

Stealth measure allowed obscene salaries

Gonzalez crunched some numbers for me along with consultant Steven Ochoa, and they found that in Bell and eight nearby communities, which are roughly 90% Latino, just under half of all adult Latinos can't vote because they are either undocumented or don't have full citizenship.

That may help explain why, as The Times reported Friday, only 336 of Bell's 9,000-plus voters cast ballots in 2005 in favor of a stealth measure, quietly pushed by city officials, that lifted state-imposed salary limits. Lopez is one of several Bell residents who told me she was completely unaware of that special election.

"And I'm an educated woman with a master's in public administration and a bachelor's in urban planning," said Lopez.

If she and others needed yet another reason to storm the gates, it was provided last week in a bonehead letter to the community by Mayor Oscar Hernandez. In it, he defended those ridiculous paychecks, called Ratso's salary justified, and criticized The Times for reporting the numbers.

As they're chanting these days in Bell:

Recall, recall, recall …

http://www.latimes.c...rce=patrick.net

[stocks]

California's city officials scramble to limit damage from Bell scandal

Figuring out exactly how much top city leaders make can be difficult, however. The base salary of city officials is usually the most easily accessible number, but it rarely captures the total compensation. City leaders also can be paid through car and phone allowances, housing agreements or deferred compensation plans. In some cases, city managers can receive a separate salary by holding a different position or serving on a board or commission.

Those extras can significantly boost total compensation, but they are difficult to sort out.

Take the case of Laguna Hills. Barbara Kogerman, who ran for City Council in the Orange County suburb, sought the assistance of three local graduate students to figure out how much City Manager Bruce Channing earned and how his pay compared to that of other Orange County city managers.

Collecting the information was difficult, in part because each city offered data in a unique format, the students said.

In the case of Laguna Hills, the students said Channing received a base salary of $233,430 but calculated his total earnings at $460,809 after including $227,379 in additional payments.

Channing strongly disputed the report, calling it "factually inaccurate and misleading" because it included what he said were reimbursements for phone bills, travel costs and other expenses.


http://www.latimes.c...7162,full.story

[stocks]

$800,000 City Manager Quits After California Town Erupts In Protest

"my city is more corrupt than your city"

It's the end of the road for city manager Robert Rizzo, who gave up his sweet $800,000 salary today under heavy protest.
He can thank the LA Times for reporting the high pay he has received for years.
Two other overpaid employees of Bell, CA are resigning -- and none will receive a serverance package

... exposing corruption can go a ways to fixing California's budget crisis.

Look how angry the mostly poor residents of Bell were at yesterday's hearing



Read more: http://www.businessi...7#ixzz0uXn4lQm9

Rizzo to plead guilty to tax charges

The former Bell city manager, who claimed more than $770,000 in fraudulent losses, agrees to cooperate with federal authorities.

As Robert Rizzo's salary as Bell's city manager crept ever higher, eventually hitting an unheard-of $1.18 million a year, he still wasn't satisfied.

So from 2005 through 2010, the year he was ousted from his job after his salary was revealed, Rizzo claimed more than $770,000 in phantom losses
on his tax returns, further inflating his take-home pay.

Rizzo, who is already facing 10 to 12 years in prison for his role in the corruption scandal, agreed Thursday to plead guilty to conspiracy to file false
tax returns and to cooperate with federal authorities.

The bogus losses "operated to substantially offset the increasing wages defendant received from his employment with the city of Bell," according
to the plea agreement.






http://www.latimes.c...y#ixzz2nNtCqVZv