Former officials from one of America's smallest towns were charged Wednesday with abuse of public funds for paying themselves salaries that would make Croesus blush.

Robert Rizzo, the manager of the Californian city of Bell, paid himself a staggering 787,000 dollars last year -- nearly twice as much as US President Barack Obama -- even though his town only has 38,000 residents.

Meanwhile, police chief Randy Adams was earning 457,000 dollars a year, almost double what the head of the Los Angeles Police Department gets, while Rizzo's ex-assistant, Angela Spaccia, was on 336,000 dollars a year.

Eight officials in all were charged with fraud, civil conspiracy, waste of public funds and breach of fiduciary duty.

"We are filing our lawsuit on behalf of the public to recover the excess salaries that Bell officials awarded themselves and to ensure their future pensions are reduced to a reasonable amount," said California attorney general Edmund Brown.

The suit calls for a return of all excessive compensation "and asks the court to establish appropriate salary levels for pension purposes," a statement from Brown's office read.

Bell is a small working class Latino suburb located about six miles (10 kilometers) south of central Los Angeles. It is one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles county.