# Remember those Bell, CA city employees paying themselves insane salaries? Here's an update! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713 "2011-11-03T03:55:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/21 "2011-11-10T10:40:55Z")
I don’t understand why he would get a pass even if it were 100% legal. I don’t know that my new Xbox is stolen. Do I get to keep it? No. And that’s even if I didn’t know at all. There is no way this guy didn’t know that what was happening was illegal, even without the evidence of him deliberately hiding his funding and stealing loans. Allowing this is like telling people that it’s okay to buy obviously stolen goods. No one is stupid enough to think that a small town even has that much money to give to its workers. He knew what he was getting into. Stop feeling sorry for him. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/22 "2011-11-10T18:52:09Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I don’t understand why he would get a pass even if it were 100% legal. I don’t know that my new Xbox is stolen. Do I get to keep it? No. And that’s even if I didn’t know at all. There is no way this guy didn’t know that what was happening was illegal, even without the evidence of him deliberately hiding his funding and stealing loans. > > Allowing this is like telling people that it’s okay to buy obviously stolen goods. No one is stupid enough to think that a small town even has that much money to give to its workers. He knew what he was getting into. Stop feeling sorry for him. Uh- Yes, if you didn’t know it was stolen, and no one brought it up, your _fungible_ receipts would be something you could keep, as it is difficult to trace the provenance. As to whether the money paid was illegal- well, that is up to the court. It was done legally in the sense that they are the law, and it was just as legal as congress voting themselves raises. The issue is not that it wasn’t done legally, but that it was _overdone,_ even though legal. Naming an Xbox as example when we are talking about money fundamentally changes the conversation, and is a bit of a straw figure. I don’t particularly feel sorry for him- if I had that income, I could live comfortably for a decade or so at least without working again. Again, stating that I am sorrowful is a bit of an attempt to redirect the conversation in some other direction. I just don’t have a problem with him attempting to enforce his entirely legal contract. I also don’t have a problem with him being prosecuted and jailed- but I think he should be able to retain his perfectly legal salary, and have it escrowed until he is out of prison, should the allegations be proven. I want them taxed heavily, though- I am, after all, a liberal in this society, although my ideals are libertopian. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/23 "2014-04-16T22:42:03Z")
And here is the latest update: the city manager Robert Rizzo was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $8.8 million dollars in restitution. [http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/ex-california-city-leader-gets-12-years-in-prison/Content?oid=2771918](http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/ex-california-city-leader-gets-12-years-in-prison/Content?oid=2771918) But the parole system in California will probably mean he gets off serving a much shorter sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/24 "2014-04-16T23:39:25Z")
I do remember reading that they were all heavily fined. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/25 "2014-04-16T23:52:26Z")
The mistake Rizzo made was receiving an $800,000 salary for being the mayor of the city of Bell. He should have incorporated the city. If he was the CEO of BellCo, he could have been receiving an $8,000,000 salary and people would have been defending him for it. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/26 "2014-04-17T00:28:30Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > I find it strange that some of the “cities” referenced in the other thread haven’t been stripped of their status due to the lack of residents. Is this a loophole in California law that a “city” with only about 100 residents can continue to exist, instead of being demoted to village status, merged into a neighbouring municipality, or reintegrated into the underlying county? This reminds me of the old English [rotten boroughs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_boroughs). There’s no such thing as a “village” in California. There’s more than one kind of city, but that’s a matter of how the city was formed. Many places in California with names and ZIP codes are unincorporated areas of a county, and some choose to incorporate as “towns” (with no legal difference from a city), but there is no “demotion” possible, except maybe getting re-annexed by the county. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713.md?page=1)