Bell City Council Fights Back Against Overpaid Managers

BELL, Calif., Sept. 5, 2010— -- The people of Bell, Calif., in southern Los Angeles County, are reeling at recent allegations of city official corruption.

While 17 percent of the suburb's 40,000 residents are living under the poverty line, former City Manager Robert Rizzo was making nearly $800,000 a year while on city payroll.

As if years of bilking Bell's taxpayers wasn't enough, Rizzo stands to earn $600,000 a year in retirement -- the highest pension for a public employee in the state of California.

Public outcry has led California Attorney General, Jerry Brown to take action.

"We have a case where hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money has been paid out under completely suspicious circumstance," Brown said.

Brown is heading an investigation into not only Rizzo's big payout, but the salaries of two other city officials.

Former Police Chief Randy Adams and former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia were also forced to resign along with Rizzo, after it was leaked by the Los Angeles Times that their annual salaries ran $457,000 and $376,288 respectively.

Residents have rallied city council members to take legal action against their high-rolling managers to get back millions of dollars of wasteful spending.

The city council itself was not exempt from corruption, with some of their part-time workers receiving almost $100,000 a year.

The Los Angeles Times also uncovered that Bell had the second highest property taxes in Los Angeles County and overcharged hundreds of thousands of dollars for sewage service.