Overpaid officials agree to 90 per cent salary decrease

Los Angeles: City Council members in Bell unanimously agreed on Monday to give up their controversial $96,000-a-year (Dh352,000) salaries and instead draw $673 a month — a 90 per cent decrease.

Council members in the small, working-class city southeast of downtown Los Angeles have been under mounting pressure since the salaries for the part-time jobs were reported this month.

Mayor Oscar Hernandez and Vice-Mayor Teresa Jacobo went a step further on Monday and said they will finish off their terms without pay.

Change of tone

Hernandez also apologised to residents for the high salaries the city paid to administrators, a reversal from the defiant tone he struck last week.

"Since my first day as mayor, my priority has been to make Bell a city its residents can be proud to call home," he said.

"I apologise that the council's past decisions with regard to the indefensible administrative salaries have failed to meet that test."

Hernandez said he will not seek another stint as mayor.

A Los Angeles Times report revealed that the city's top officials received some of the highest municipal wages in the nation.

City Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo made $787,637 a year, almost twice the salary of US President Barack Obama.

Police Chief Randy Adams made $457,000, 50 per cent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck; while Assistant City Manager Spaccia made $376,288, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County.

All three resigned last week.

Salary sweep-back

In agreeing to sweep back their salaries, Councilmen Luis Artiga and George Mirabal put themselves on par with Lorenzo Velez, who has been paid $673 a month since he was appointed to the council last summer.

Velez said he was unaware his colleagues were making so much.