Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- Opening statements began Thursday in the corruption trials of six former city council members of Bell , California , who are accused of receiving exorbitant salaries for no work and turning taxpayer money into a personal `` piggy bank , '' officials said . The six former council members are named in a 20-count complaint accusing them of misappropriating about $ 1.2 million in public funds . The six are being tried in a Los Angeles County courtroom : former Mayor Oscar Hernandez and former council members Teresa Jacobo , George Mirabal , Luis Artiga , George Cole and Victor Bello , said spokeswoman Jane Robison of the Los Angeles County district attorney 's office . Also charged in the corruption case are former City Manager Robert Rizzo and former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia , whose trials have yet to be scheduled , Robison said . Together , the eight defendants are charged with misappropriating more than $ 5.5 million , including being paid for phantom committee meetings and making illegal personal loans . Former District Attorney Steve Cooley had called the case a `` feeding frenzy of corruption by Bell officials . '' He filed the charges in 2010 ; he retired last year . Each of the so-called Bell Eight has pleaded not guilty , authorities said . Prosecutors have alleged that the six ex-council members , as well as the two other former city officials , turned the city treasury into `` their own piggy bank , which they looted at will . '' Between 2006 and 2010 , they `` illegally gamed the system to receive ridiculous salaries for doing no work '' and were paid nearly $ 8,000 a month for meetings on four boards that never took place or lasted just a few minutes , prosecutors have alleged . Those boards were the Solid Waste Authority , Surplus Property Authority , Public Finance Authority and Community Housing Authority , authorities said . In 2011 : Officials in California scandal reject plea deal . Bell , a city of 36,000 , is about 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles . The city has taken measures to promote transparency in government by posting the city 's `` checkbook '' on a revamped website , Mayor Ali Saleh told CNN . The open records are designed to rebuild the public trust , Saleh said . `` All we 're waiting for now is justice for our residents , '' Saleh said of the ongoing trial . `` Let 's not forget that we still have a lot of issues with litigation that the city has endured because of the scandal . '' He was referring to lawsuits against the city , including one filed by Rizzo and by the former police chief , who was making more than $ 400,000 a year , he said . Saleh is now focused on `` moving the city forward , '' he said . He said council members no longer make $ 100,000 a year . `` I 'll tell you exactly what my W-2 says from 2012 : $ 8,130.12 -- do n't forget the 12 cents , '' he said , providing his city salary last year . Current council members now receive $ 673 a month , he said . Former New Orleans mayor indicted .
NEW : ` ` All we 're looking for now is justice for our residents , '' current mayor says . NEW : Council members now receive only $ 673 a month , not $ 100k a year as before , he says . Two former council members in Sacramento , California , pleaded not guilty in corruption charges . They are accused of getting big salaries for no work and misappropriating $ 1 million .