Romero says he won’t return city pay

city rep. larry romero why he’s not returning the city pay he’s received since resigning. abc-seven’s maria garcia continues our complete coverage of the fallout from the scandal that brought romero’s political career to a quick end. maria … romero says he suffered a stroke in december – and has been out of city hall since. he resigned in late february yet he continues to be paid because he technically occupies the office until a successor is elected. he is working at his tax preparation business, so i asked why is he keeping the public tax dollars he’s being paid if he’s not showing up city hall? since resigning in late february, romero has been paid 3,941 dollars. romero is not required to accept the pay. since resigning, romero even traveled to the masters tournament in georgia. i stopped by romero’s business today and he refused an on camera interview. he told me that if the mayor and other city reps. returned their pay for meetings they missed, he would too. i told him it’s not the same if a city rep misses a meeting here and there than it is to resign and still accept a public paycheck. but romero told me he wouldn’t be returnign the money. and the city is forced to pay him because of state law. 02:09 the law is set up so that they continue to work until their replacement is there which kind of defeats the purpose of having them resign. chyron gfx these are the reps who definitively say romero should return the pay: lily limon, claudia ordaz, cortney niland and emma acosta. the reps who say romero should consider giving back the money: peter svarzbein, carl robinson and michiel noe. romero told me even though he’s not going to council meetings, he still speaks to his assistant every week and gives her direction on issues in his district. if the council doesn’t excuse three of his absences, it could possibly stop paying him. but that hasn’t happened yet. the public won’t get its first look at the new san jacinto plaza until this weekend.