Story Created:
Aug 26, 2010 at 11:07 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 26, 2010 at 11:07 AM PST
BELL — Interim Chief Administrative Officer Pedro Carrillo and interim City Attorney James Casso traveled to Sacramento Aug. 18 to brief state legislative leaders in a bipartisan meeting.
They reported that an audit requested by the city of Bell conducted by Controller John Chiang revealed that residents were illegally charged higher property taxes for the past three years.
The City Council took action to lower Bell property taxes during a nine-hour meeting Aug. 16.
Because current state law prevents affected property owners from receiving a property tax rebate, the City Council directed Carrillo and Casso to seek a legislative solution to secure rebates.
“Bell residents deserve a refund and we are doing everything in our power to put money back in the pockets of the taxpayers who were wronged by the former administration,” Carrillo said. “We’re looking to our legislative leaders to rise above Sacramento divisive politics and unite in an effort to secure immediate relief for Bell residents.”
The officials received support from county Supervisor Gloria Molina and her colleagues who took emergency action Aug. 17 to urge the Legislature to pass legislation that would allow property tax overpayments by Bell homeowners to be returned directly to those homeowners instead of Bell-area schools, as currently mandated by state law.
“Bell property owners are already outraged that their city has been so unbelievably mismanaged,” Molina said. “This ‘pension override’ rule just adds insult to injury. It’s a windfall for the state at the expense of Bell residents, who are already coming to terms with the many other costs they’ll have to bear for
years to come as a result of past mismanagement of their city.”
This latest “pension override” discovery was unearthed after weeks of similarly disturbing findings concerning the City of Bell. Among them: A city manager receiving $1.5 million in total compensation; A former police chief collecting $457,000 annually; an assistant city manager making $376,000 per year; seven additional Bell city employees receiving between $230,000 and $423,000 in yearly pay; part-time city council members making almost $100,000 annually; and massive pension payments that will be required in the future as a result of these excessively large salaries.
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