Unringing other Bells
Citizens look at public pay scales in Pasadena following Bell fiasco
By André Coleman , Kevin Uhrich 07/29/2010
Revelations about Bell, a city of less than 40,000 people where the city manager made nearly $800,000 a year and part-time City Council members raked in $100,000, have raised important questions for other communities, including Pasadena.
One is how could such a thing happen? Another is could it happen here?
The answer to the latter question is yes, and it does happen here, only to a smaller degree.
In fact, in Pasadena, where office holders draw pay that is low compared to that in Bell, officials are also able to sock away funds that would otherwise go to medical benefits, which over the course of several years could add up to $100,000 or more.
As for the second question, according to one media expert, the answer is fairly simple: No one was really watching. Few if any newspapers cover Bell, and no coverage combined with low civic engagement adds up to an uninformed citizenry. So it came as a shock to most to learn that former City Manager Robert Rizzo was making $787,637 a year, while former Police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia were pulling in $457,000 and $376,288, respectively.
Adams, who left the Glendale Police Department last year to take over in Bell, only earned $215,000 a year while serving as Glendale’s chief. But because the California Public Employee Retirement System’s retirement formula is based on the year of highest earnings, Adams’ stint in Bell could cost the city of Glendale almost a half-million dollars in additional retirement benefits, and the city of Simi Valley, where Adams served as chief from 1995 to 2003, could also be on the hook for an additional $500,000, a total of up to $40,000 extra a year from each city for the length of the retirement, according to a report in the Glendale News Press. The paper reported that officials in both cities, along with Ventura, where Adams spent the bulk of his career and is now headed by City Manager Rick Cole, a former Pasadena councilman, are fighting to block those payments.
It remains unknown what if any benefits average citizens gained as a result of those inflated salaries, stipends and pensions, said Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition.
“Yes, [residents] have suffered from a real newspaper not giving them routine coverage, but the newspapers covering [Bell] should give readers the opportunity to hear both sides. Did these officials do anything worthy [of those salaries]? It would be helpful to know if people got something for their money or nothing.”
State Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has subpoenaed hundreds of documents regarding those salaries, and on Wednesday Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley — a candidate for Attorney General — told KFI radio that his office has been investigating the salaries for four months. Cooley’s office wants to know if politicians were paid for short meetings or meetings they missed altogether.
In Bell, officials there held a special election to become a charter city, which allowed council members to set those salaries and their own. Less than 400 people voted, and most of those who did voted for the change.
Pasadena is also charter city, one that provides elected officials with medical and dental coverage, among other benefits. Here, the mayor makes a stipend of $2,050 a month, and council members earn $1,368 a month. However, along with receiving stipends for sitting on members of other non-city boards of directors, such as the Bob Hope Airport Commission, those officials are also entitled to a host of other benefits, which they can opt out of taking, “and that money goes into a deferred compensation fund, which you can take at that end. It is money that has real value,” said Ross Selvidge, who in 1999 served as chair of a task force that amended the city charter to allow for greater compensation of council members.
The Pasadena City Council on Monday voted to forego its annual cost-of-living raise, the issue was on the agenda before the scandal in Bell became news.
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Comments
Who's Mr. Bogaard and what is his picture doing in this story?
"It would be helpful to know if people got something for their money or nothing.” All you have to do is check how little the city was doing as reflected in the council agendas and minutes for this year to date. See http://www.bellcityclerk.org/councilagen...
posted by Terry Francke on 7/29/10 @ 03:20 p.m.
Bill Bogaard is Pasadena's mayor. Google is your friend. ;)
And not to be contrary, but "activity" does not necessarily equate to value. Whether it's government, industry, or otherwise, you're not necessarily getting a lot done admidst a ton of meetings and discussions, although I'd also argue that meetings are not inherently the Dilbertian time-sucks that many people consider them.
In any case, I think "getting something for their money" would be better measured in terms of economic growth and opportunities. By that measure, it sounds like the Bell council gets a big fat FAIL.
posted by cyranojoe on 7/30/10 @ 12:57 p.m.
Hey I didn't know that the city council now makes so much (compared to more than a decade ago) money for a salary! The last time I researched it (before a couple of days ago), the council really didn't make any salary at all.
And then, when I quite thorougly searched the city's own website, I could discover no section there that distinctly even suggested -- besides what council-members "may" receive as allowance "perks" (that can be "cashed" in) -- that the people behind the horseshoe actually and indeed do get a regular salary.
I guess (as it was in the City of Bell) compensated "civic duty" is still one of those dirty little secrets that management doesn't like to discuss all that much (since 1999).
DanD