$1.6M City Hall Salaries Spark Poor LA Suburb Revolt

$800K city manager resigns after protest
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2010 5:45 AM CDT
$1.6M City Hall Salaries Spark Poor LA Suburb Revolt
The $800,000-a-year city manager, Robert Rizzo.   (AP Photo/Huntington Beach Police Department)

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has ordered an investigation to determine how three city administrators managed to collect $1.6 million in salaries in the working-class Los Angeles suburb of Bell. Revelation of the salaries sparked a massive protest among residents earlier this week, and triggered the resignation of the three men, reports AP. Brown called City Manager Robert Rizzo's salary of $787,637—nearly twice that of President Obama's— "almost beyond belief." Police Chief Randy Adams, who also resigned, was taking home a cool $457,000.

Furious residents of the town, where 17% of the population lives below the federal poverty level, huddled at City Hall last night while the men's fate was decided; the City Council accepted their resignations just after midnight. Next on the agenda will be the future of those City Council members. Four of five of the representatives earn nearly $100,000 a year for doing the part-time jobs, reports the Los Angeles Times.
(More California stories.)

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