Random Noise

The Times revealed last week that Rizzo was earning a $787,637 annual salary, Adams $457,000 and Spaccia $376,288. Experts said Rizzo appeared to be the highest-paid city manager in the nation. He had nearly three years left on his contract, and it’s unclear whether the city bought it out or whether he agreed to walk away without compensation.

Bell issued its first public statement on the salary controversy Friday, with Mayor Oscar Hernandez calling Rizzo’s salary well within reason for the excellent job he did for the city of 40,000.

“Unlike the skewed view of the facts the Los Angeles Times presented to advance the paper’s own agenda, a look at the big picture of city compensation shows that salaries of the city manager and other top city staff have been in line with similar positions over the period of their tenure,” Hernandez said in a letter to the public.

The League of California Cities, however, released a statement highly critical of Bell and its officials, saying the group was working on possible legislation to prevent a repeat of the Bell salary situation. “We are unaware of any city in the nation where salaries of this level are paid for comparable positions,” the league said.