How Bell Gardens is run
Who runs Bell Gardens, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Bell Gardens's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 10, 2026.
Who runs Bell Gardens
A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
Bell Gardens city staff
157 full-time-equivalent positions, including Police 75, Public Works 30, Community Development 17, Recreation and Community Services 16, Finance and Administration 10. FY2026-27. Funded full-time positions in the FY2026-27 budget, one more than in FY2025-26. Part-time staff are not counted. City of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
The city posts monthly pay ranges for every position in its yearly compensation resolution. Bell Gardens runs its own police department; fire service comes from Los Angeles County. We did not pull pay bands from the State Controller's database. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Bell Gardens in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $0 (2025-06-30). That means every dollar the general fund has saved is set aside in a named reserve or category, not that it has no savings. City of Bell Gardens · Apr 13, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- Card club tax$17.4M · 33%
- Motor vehicle in-lieu (state)$6.2M · 12%
- Sales and use tax$4.1M · 8%
- Measure A add-on sales tax (0.75%)$3.7M · 7%
- Parking lot rental$3.2M · 6%
- Transfers in from other funds$2M · 4%
- Other (ground leases, property tax, new quarter-cent sales tax, fees, interest)$12.4M · 23%
- Drawn from reserves (budgeted deficit)$3.7M · 7%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$21.5M · 41%
- Public works$7.7M · 15%
- Recreation$7.2M · 14%
- Finance, HR and risk management$5.8M · 11%
- Transfers to other funds$3.8M · 7%
- Community development$3.1M · 6%
- City manager, IT and telecom$2.6M · 5%
- Other (debt service, legal, clerk, council, reserve transfer, less vacancy savings)$973,039 · 2%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Of each property-tax dollar, about 6 cents goes to the city as its share of the 1% base levy. Voter-approved school and college bonds add about a third on top of the base levy. Not every rate applies to every property.
6¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Bell Gardens
- Other agencies' share of the 1% base levy (county, schools, special districts)0.90803 · 62%
- City of Bell Gardens (share of the 1% base levy)0.09197 · 6%
- School district bonds0.34523 · 24%
- Community college bonds0.11625 · 8%
- Metropolitan Water District0.007 · <1%
- Total (% of assessed value)1.46848
FY2024-25 rates for a property in Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County). City of Bell Gardens · Apr 13, 2026
See what a Bell Gardens home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Bell Gardens is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityBell Gardens Police DepartmentCity of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityCity of Bell Gardens Recreation and Community ServicesCity of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
- City streetsThe cityCity of Bell Gardens Public WorksCity of Bell Gardens · Apr 13, 2026
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | ClaremontCA | MontclairCA | Bell GardensCA | WildomarCA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 38,262 | 38,378 | 38,484 | 38,841 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $299,752 | $304,512 | Not confirmed | $281,000 |
| Council member pay | $15,300 | $17,256 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $1,072 | $1,085 | $1,370 | $529 |
| Debt per resident | $370 | $3,428 | $104 | $29 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $1,341 | $794 | $1,328 | $22 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 4.4 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 1.5 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Wildomar pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Bell Gardens publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Partly: Adopted budget posted online City of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
- No: City manager's contract findable onlineThe salary resolution refers to the city manager's individual contract. We found no posted contract or pay terms for the acting manager. City of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member online City of Bell Gardens · May 11, 2026
- No: Council pay stated in a public documentThe FY2026-27 compensation resolution lists staff classifications and pay, but not council pay. We found no posted council pay ordinance. City of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
- Yes: Employee pay publishedThe yearly compensation resolution lists monthly pay ranges for every full-time classification, including the City Manager position. City of Bell Gardens · Jun 8, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- The general fund balance fell by $12.6 million in FY2024-25 to $25.4 million, and the FY2026-27 budget has a $3.7 million deficit. How many years can reserves cover deficits of that size?
- Voters decide on November 3, 2026 whether to sell the city water system to Golden State Water Company. If the sale goes through, how would the council use the proceeds?
- The city's two CalPERS plans were $51.1 million short on June 30, 2025. How does the council plan to pay that down?
The fiscal year starts July 1. The council discusses the proposed budget in May (a community budget workshop on May 27, 2026) and adopts the budget and compensation plan by resolution in June (June 8, 2026). See who is running for council
Help decide what comes next
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