When you dream of lucking into a relatively low-stress job that pays double the salary of President Obama, do you think of becoming a city official? This isn’t a recruiting poster, It is the bizarre story of the best-paid city officials in the United States and a trusting city. The City Manager, his assistant and the Chief of Police were all making six figures, and what’s more – they ‘served’ the city of Bell, California, one of the poorest cities in L A county. City Manager Robert Rizzo slashed the city budget laying off
firemen and other essential services, and as a last insult to injury he raised taxes to keep the city afloat and meeting payroll. The odd thing was that the tax-paying citizens of Bell had no way of knowing where they were overspending. Only elected officials are limited as to how much they can earn, appointees are not only unlimited, but in this case are free to decide their own salary, and keep it secret. I suspect the system will get some fine tuning, as soon as the citizenry is finished tuning Rizzo and pals up. The shenanigans mentioned here barely scratch the surface of Rizzo’s actions.
City Manager, Robert Rizzo, shown in a DUI mug-shot, and sounding a bit snarky about the ingrates from Bell stated "If that’s the number people choke on then maybe I’m in the wrong business." (He was) The number, representing his annual salary was $787, 637.00 – with a hefty retirement package to boot!