Salaries paid to public officials can often be a point of contention.

But even the most ardent defenders of generous salaries must be aghast at the salaries uncovered for the blue-collar town of Bell, Calif.

Until Monday night -- when the City Council of this blue-collar town voted to slash the salaries they're paid for their part-time jobs -- four of the five were getting paid nearly $100,000 a year.

Sizewise, the city is only a little smaller than Belleville, where you won't find those types of salaries. (Here's a link to our database of Belleville salaries.The database shows just one of the city's 357 employees making more than $100,000.

Our database for Kirkwood, which is about one year old, shows six employees making more than $100,000 a year.

The chief administrative officer of Bell had been making $787,000 -- and defended his salary. The town's city manager, police chief and assistant city manager were making a combined $1.6 million a year.

They all resigned last week; the state has subpoenaed hundreds of records.

 

We can probably find nearly unanimous agreement that those salaries are ridiculous. But how much is too much? Is there a foolproof way to make sure public officials are being paid fairly? Or should it be a free market exercise and officials are paid what the market will bear?