The city of Bell nearly doubled taxes for sewer, trash, recycling and lighting districts in 2007 without voter approval, then used more than $1 million of those funds to pay for raises to former City Administrator Robert Rizzo and former Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia, according an audit released Wednesday morning by state Controller John Chiang.
The finding is one of numerous problems highlighted by Chiang in a sweeping report that sharply criticizes Rizzo and other city leaders for creating an environment with an “extremely high” potential for waste, fraud, abuse and misappropriation of funds. In addition, all requests by Rizzo were approved by the City Council with “little or no question or deliberation,” according to the audit.
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