Lessons from the Bell, California Fiasco

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

The City of Bell has become the poster child for bad government. Exorbitant salaries, lavish pension benefits, a looming default on $35 million in city bonds, and illegal property taxes have all come to light recently. And as a result, taxpayers across California are focusing new scrutiny on their own local officials.

The biggest long-term threat to taxpayers and budgets is the pension crisis. Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo was raking in a salary of nearly $800,000, and a total compensation package of more than $1.5 million that included benefits such as 28 weeks worth of vacation and sick time. That puts taxpayers on the hook for over $600,000 a year for Rizzo’s pension—for the rest of his life—when he retires.

High government salaries means soaring pension costs that taxpayers cannot afford.

Holy FRAKK! Thankfully, it appears these slime were arrested back in September and charged with fraud. This is a problem that is endemic to this country and I bet dollars-to-donuts this won't be the first such incident uncovered in the coming year.

 

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