It’s not often that we ordinary citizens get to peak behind the curtain. But the furor about salaries in the city of Bell has forced the city, and the state, to show us how much our 50,000 public “servants” are getting paid.

It’s no secret that L.A. City Councilmembers make $178,789. But you might be interested to know that 32 employees of the L.A. Police Department make more money, including Police Chief Charlie Beck who is paid $304,000. Not bad for a starting salary.

Poor old “Nuch” (Carmen A. Trutanich), the new city attorney, only gets $214,546, hardly enough to commute from San Pedro every day. Only two other city employees make more than $300,000 a year. They are the General Managers of the Airports and the Harbors departments. But there are many more making more than $200,000 or in the high $100,000s.

Meanwhile, the estimated average per capita income in Los Angeles is $28,071.

The database is maintained by the City Controller ($196,667). It lists job classification, not names of employees, but for the highest salaried it is easy to guess his/her identity. Find it at: http://bit.ly/aFNK0d.

The state of California also lists the salaries of employees of most cities and counties in the state at: http://lgcr.sco.ca.gov.