New Bell council must act quickly to avoid insolvency; big budget cuts likely [Updated]

Bell's newly elected City Council won't have much of a honeymoon as the city faces a financial crisis that could result in major cuts to services.

Bell's management has said the city risks insolvency if it cannot balance its budget, which was placed hugely out of whack after officials learned the administration of former city manager Robert Rizzo had illegally collected millions of dollars in taxes.

The city faces a deficit of $3.5 million to $4.5 million and has defaulted on a $35-million bond.

The city's interim administrator, Pedro Carrillo, had been pushing the old council to address the budget issues. But the council had met only three times in the last five months. Four of the five council members face criminal charges of public corruption. All five were recalled on Tuesday.

One of the big questions for the new council will be whether to eliminate the Police Department and contract with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

The city has trimmed the city's $14-million budget by $3.8 million. The number of full-time employees has dropped 16%, from 82 to 69. Nonetheless, the city's reserves are down to $300,000.

Carrillo has been managing the budget woes in the meantime. But in an interview last month he said it's ultimately the council that needs to sit down "make some tough choices and get moving."

Unofficial results showed residents voted overwhelmingly to recall Mayor Oscar Hernandez and council members Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal, as well as Luis Artiga, who quit the council last year but remained targeted for recall. Even Lorenzo Velez, the lone councilman not charged in the Bell corruption case, appeared to suffer collateral damage and lost his bid to keep his seat.

Danny Harber won the vote to replace Jacobo, Ana Maria Quintana was the top vote-getter to succeed Artiga, and Ali Saleh, Nestor Valencia and Violeta Alvarez will fill the other three seats.

The recall prompted celebrations in Bell. There was drumming and dancing. Some recall supporters drove around town in a caravan of cars honking their horns in celebration.

[Updated at 10:05 a.m.: Some longtime residents said they felt compelled to vote for the first time.

Manuel Godoy, 61, said he has lived in Bell for 30 years, raised three daughters there and owns a home. But he never felt the need to cast a ballot before Tuesday, even as in recent years he watched the city's property taxes climb to among the highest in the county.

"You get busy, you don't want to get involved," said Godoy, a retired caterer and ice cream deliveryman, after voting Tuesday. "It's a big mistake."

He said he was angered by revelations about the high salaries collected by Rizzo and most of the City Council members.

"It's OK to take a little piece of the pie, but not that much," he said. Eugene Crowner, 73, a retired railroad clerk, has lived in Bell so long that he can remember when all the families, like his, were white.

On Tuesday's ballot, most candidates were Latinos, some of whom he voted for. His polling site happened to be Grace Lutheran Church on Pine Avenue, where his father became pastor in 1941, and where he grew up playing on the parish grounds.

Crowner said he had been a voter for years, but he did something different this time: He brought a camera to commemorate the moment. This wasn't just any election.

"It ought to be a new beginning," Crowner said, walking down the block to the Spanish-tile home where he has lived most of his life. "We'll get a new broom to sweep out City Hall."

Something else was different this time, he said. There were lines.

Though less than a quarter of registered voters showed up for the 2009 elections, turnout among the 10,485 registered voters this year was 33%.

Crowner has followed the scandal and knows that some people have said it can't get much worse. He isn't so sure.

"When we get a new council sweeping out City Hall," he said, "there's no telling what they'll find."]

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-- Paloma Esquivel and Shelby Grad

Photo: Members of Bell's Lebanese community and supporters of Ali Saleh celebrate his victory in the city election in Bell on Tuesday night. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Astonished]

This city has a very long and difficult job ahead and I wish them a lot of success. Has anyone taken a look at L.A. elected elite yet?

[Jane]

The people have spoken and it's now time for the newly elected officials to roll up their sleeves and begin the difficult recovery process. My only advice is that they focus all their attention on the needs of their community by setting aside partisan politics, hold strong against special interest groups (yes, public unions included), and most importantly, put the City of Bell back on solid financial footing. Once this happens, business will once again prosper and the City will return to being the vibrant and thriving community it used to be.

[Save the Police Department and Sink the City]

I can't wait for the "new" council to save the police department and sink the city.

The City of Bell will be nothing be little more than an employment program for third rate cops who stood silent for the better part of 15 years.

The only new thing in Bell is the faces. The game's the same.

[OCJester]

NOW, the residents pay attention?....duh

[swhitS]

If you don't watch the kids they get up to all kinds of mischief!
Are you listening LA??? Time to check out out Villa and Co.......

[goodkid1]

I totally agree with the earlier comment "Sink the City, Save the Police. I have been watching this story from the start...listening to poor citizens like the man who had this business truck impounded so often for "parking violations", the last time towed from his own private backyard, that he couldn't keep his business open. Why do these police punks, without whose actions and and active support the corruption couldn't continue, get away with no consequences? These complicitous thugs should be tried by federal authorities. But just call me "Blue Boy", cuz I'll be the one holding my breath. :(

[Kittybarfola]

I am wondering if any of the winners were backed by the police union.

[Dreadnok4life]

What a bunch of idiots! The only thing missing is firing AK-47s in the air. What a third world city!

[PANCHITO]

* * * *
WELL, BELL'S DONE, WHO'S NEXT, CUDAHY, VERNON, SOUTH GATE, EL SEGUNDO........... WHO'S NEXT.

[swhitS]

And, will anyone come up with the bright idea to cut all illegal services? Certainly not in LA!
We will just watch all the taxpayers get laid off , lose their homes and get zippo out of SS while the thieves continue to suck us dry.

[Alex]

wow why keep the police? The Cheif told his ant-terrorisim officer,he was not comfortable with the FBI in the station. Hopefully one day he will get to meet a lot more.

[Greg Campanale]

Why can't they redeem some of that money by repossessing some of that ill gotten money and or propriety from Russo?

[frank carson]

I am glad to see some people get the fact the police are the major clause of this problem,with out the police all the extortion would of never happen.this should show the people of Calif that the police are not here for you.save the city of bell save Calif brake the police,firemen,prison guards unions fire them all and end the pensions they have no right to the tax payer funded wellfare and the union in the public sector is illegal,along with the pension system.

[Clark Genet]

The true crime is that only one third of Bell's registered voters turned out on Tuesday. Apethetic slugs deserve what they get. But are we learning something while we engage in our Schadenfreude? We will see at the next election.