California Cities Confront Managers' Extravagant Pay and Perks

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9, 2010— -- Top managers for the city of Vernon, Calif., enjoyed pay and perks that outpaced some of the nation's top leaders.

It is one of a growing number of California municipalities confronting questionable practices by municipal employees.

Vernon has only 90 residents, but top city managers were earning an astounding $1.6 million per year with some fancy perks, including first-class air travel around the world and $800-a-night hotel rooms.

"For these city officials to be receiving salaries larger than the governor, larger than the president of the United States is absolutely unjustifiable," said Bob Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies.

The city's small homeowners association is outraged that their city leaders were living the high life, particularly in a town that recently laid off workers and cut health insurance because of budget problems.

At one angry council meeting, residents shouted, "Shame on you!"

Vernon joins a growing list of California locales facing a payroll problem.

In neighboring Maywood and Bell, the Los Angeles Times uncovered shocking salaries.

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

As if years of living well off 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.