Posted on 05/28/2009 6:25:43 PM PDT by Ladycalif
Not only does the City Council rake in nearly $180,000 a year, but they use taxpayer money for eight free cars per council member, and each of them employs a huge personal staff of 19 to 25 people. That's about 320 employees, costing Angelenos millions of dollars to support. Compare that figure to the White House Office Staff of 480.
Yesterday, as City Hall squabbled over its groaning $530 million budget deficit, the City Council came under attack in the Daily News from Antonio Villaraigosa's spokesman Matt Szabo, who accused the 15 council members, even at a time like this, of larding the budget with slush funds. Yeah, we know.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.laweekly.com ...
Shocking, but not surprising.
Liberals know no bounds.
With Rats in control is anything even resembling fiscal responsibility EVER expected?
“Let them eat cake.”
Antonio Villaraigosa (aka Mayor Viva La Raza) is as corrupt as they come...
PSYCH!
Hell, the new city manager of TURLOCK just hired on at over $200,000, plus benefits.
The waste is shocking.
What I will say is that cities like Los Angeles and New York are different animals. Any large city generally is. They are almost like small states.
If you’ve got a few million citizens, you’re going to have a large bureaucracy involved. Is that good? Well, I think it should be kept as small as is humanly possible, but there are a lot of things to oversee.
To me it sounds like these men have severely bloated staffs. Their salaries are obscene. Their budgets are unacceptable.
It’s all about power for these jerks.
Turlock is a dirt heap. how the hell does the mayor get that kind of money for watching over a dirt heap?
wow.
but we need to cut our energy consumption, not them of course
Time to downsize!
Ya got me. I don’t even think he has been a city manager before. And it’s not really a dirt heap, it’s mainly cow s***.
These numbers don't add up. $180k/year doesn't amount to much once you've divided it among 320 employees.
They are the highest paid city council members in the nation, today earning $14,304 per month.
That’s right, $14,304 per for each of the 15. Several of them will reap about $1 million each in perks and pay over the next four years, because they can now seek a third term in office thanks to the watered-down new L.A. term limits.
The sky-high Los Angeles City Council salaries are thanks to a few obscure lines added to the fine print of the Los Angeles City Charter and approved by unsuspecting voters several years ago. Voters approved so-called “Charter Reform” that gave Los Angeles residents the right to create Neighborhood Councils that could stand up to City Hall.
But in the verrrry fine print of the “reform,” City Council salaries were forever tied to the pay raises given to Superior Court judges. Ever since, their pay has skyrocketed, making the $150,000 the council members earned just three years ago look cheap.
It’s a very neat trick. Every time judges get another boost — which is frequently — so does the L.A. City Council, even if they and Antonio Villaraigosa have spent the city into a $400 million budget deficit, as this Los Angeles City Council has done for 2009.
By contrast, New York City Council members make only about $100,000, and the cost of living is far greater in Manhattan.
The bizarre salary formula that’s making Los Angeles’ “public servants” so rich has led to greed rather than graciousness, and that greed has shown itself even among the Los Angeles County Superior Court Judges.
As the Daily News reports today, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has been illegally adding $46,436 in cash perks (taxpayer money, folks) on top of the judges’ groaning $178,789 annual salaries. Apparently, $178,789 is just not enough.
Last Friday, a three-judge panel of the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal said the amazing $46,436 cash perks for the county’s 400 judges (a staggering $120 million) are “not permissible,” and, what’s more, are against the state Constitution.
Los Angeles $14,304 per month. Automatic raises when county judges get a raise.
San Diego $ 6,282 per month. Salary based on recommendations of local commission.
San Jose $7,500 per month. Salary based on comparable jurisdictions.
San Francisco $7,989 per month. Salary based on comparable jurisdictions.
Long Beach $2,423 per month. No set formula.
Fresno $5,416 per month. No set frequency, no set formula.
Oakland $5,854 per month. Cost of living raise up to 5% annually without public vote.
Sacramento $4,873 per monthy. No set formula.
Santa Ana $125 per month. No set frequency, no set formula.
Anaheim $1,500 per month. No set frequency, no set formula.
Stockton $1,994 per month. Every odd-numbered year.
Bakersfield, $100, set by city charter, unchanged since 1956.
Riverside $3,284, Every odd-numbered year.
Chula Vista $3,933 Set by charter, occurs annually.
Fremont $1,407 No set frequency, no set formula.
Modesto $800. No set frequency, no set formula.
Glendale $2,833 No set frequency, no set formula.
In Chicago, city leaders set their salaries in 2006 to rise with annual inflation. In New York, a commission periodically reviews public officials’ pay and makes recommendations to the mayor and council.
we can’t expect a member of the ruling class to get by with just 7 cars, can we?
Politicians (supposedly) work for us. We must find a way to stop this on every level - local, state, Federal. We pay them, they mess us over, not exactly right. We stop paying them.
“Not only does the City Council rake in nearly $180,000 a year...”
The whole council or each member?
Great writing there...
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