Examining Bell

California Controller John Chiang's office will spend six weeks looking at the city's finances, including federal and state funding, to make sure all public money has been spent lawfully. Given the salary scandal, there's obviously an effort to pinpoint any possible infraction (when is the last time you heard of the state controller swooping into a municipality to launch a SWAT audit?). Bloomberg's Chris Palmeri has collected some preliminary information about the place.

Bell has sold six debt issues since 2003, according to last year's annual report. The city's $148 million in total debt amounts to 8 percent of the total assessed property value and $3,800 per resident, according to David Hitchcock, the director of state and municipal finance at the credit-rating firm Standard & Poor's. Both figures are "moderately high," according to Hitchcock. The city's general obligation bonds are rated A-, S&P's fourth highest rating. Taxpayers in Bell pay as much as 1.55 percent of their home's assessed value in taxes, according to Wendy Watanabe, Los Angeles County's auditor-controller. The average for the county is 1.16 percent. In Beverly Hills, where the per-capita income is nearly four times that of Bell, according to City-Data.com, residents pay 1.19 percent, she said.