Story Created:
Aug 3, 2010 at 1:16 PM PST
Story Updated:
Sep 14, 2010 at 8:21 PM PST
Responding to the uproar over salaries paid to Bell elected officials and top administrators, state Controller John Chiang (pictured) on Tuesday directed all cities and counties in California to provide a report of employees’ and elected officials’ salaries so they can be posted on the controller’s website.
“The absence of transparency is a breeding ground for waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Chiang said. “A single website with accessible information will make sure that excessive pay is no longer able to escape public scrutiny and accountability.”
Local governments are already required to provide summary information about revenues and expenditures to the controller's office, with payroll information included in overall amounts provided for individual agencies.
The new rule will require governments to provide salaries for each classification of elected official and public employee.
Chiang said the website listing the public employee salaries will be updated annually. Governments that fail to provide the data will be fined up to $5,000.
Separately, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky proposed posting the names and salaries of county department chiefs online.
“Participatory democracy depends on the consent of the governed, and nothing is more important than maintaining open government and ensuring that public officials and employees are fully accountable and responsible,” Yaroslavsky said during the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
Los Angeles County already lists the salaries of its five supervisors, Superior Court judges and commissioners and the sheriff, district attorney and assessor online. Salary ranges for all county employee classifications, other than department heads, are also available online.
Yaroslavsky will bring his recommendation to the board for a vote next week.
On Monday, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel directed her staff to create a website that will list the salaries of city workers.
“At the end of the day, we all work for the citizens of Los Angeles and it is their right to know how their tax dollars are being spent,” Greuel said.
The uproar in Bell was caused after the Los Angeles Times reported last month that four of the five city council members there earned salaries of around $100,000 a year. In addition, the city manager was paid $787,000 a year, the police chief received $457,000 a year and the assistant city manager was paid $376,288.
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