At the request of Bell Interim City Manager Pedro Carrillo, an audit was conducted last fall by California State Controller John Chiang to “assess the adequacy of the city’s controls to safeguard public assets and to ensure proper use of public funds.”

The audit, composed of six separate documents, found serious and pervasive “control deficiencies” that rendered Bell’s internal control system as “virtually non-existent.”

Chiang concluded that all of the city’s financial activities and transactions were controlled by former City Manager Robert Rizzo.

“For all intents and purposes, [Rizzo] has complete control and discretion over how city funds were to be used,” the report said. “There is no evidence of any oversight...Under this environment, the potential for waste, fraud, abuse and misappropriation of public funds is extremely high.”

Some of the most shocking findings listed among dozens in the reports include:

• More than $93,000 in city funds was used to repay Rizzo’s personal loans.
• Approximately $1.5 million in loans were made to members of the City Council, city officials and city employees at the discretion of Rizzo.
• The city used over $1.1 million in funds from city services (such as waste management) to fund Rizzo and former Assistance City Manager Angela Spaccia’s regular and holiday pay.

Chiang recommended the City of Bell to take “immediate action to institute a system of business policies, processes and procedures that will provide proper checks and balances over public assets and public funds.”

The findings were presented to the City of Bell management during a conference on September 16. The city did not dispute any of the results, but did say additional legal review was needed to see if some increases in public spending were justified.

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Listed below are links to all documents issued by the Controller’s office, which are also available on the website.

Administrative and Internal Accounting Controls (including Property Tax issues and assessments)

Attachments to the above report

Gas Tax Audit

Bell Community Redevelopment Agency

Federal and State Expenditures

Quality Control Review of City of Bell's CPA's Audits