Like the state of California, the city of Los Angeles is involved in a seemingly endless game of budget balancing as it looks once again at what appears to be a built-in shortfall. Last week, the City Council cut $74 million from its $7.2 billion budget and was warned it will probably return from its Christmas holiday with the need to make additional cuts next month.
And, as that is going on, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is beginning work to juggle the 2009-2010 budget that will be released in late April. As the city has in the past, it is asking the public to give its priorities in a community budget survey being coordinated by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.
Links to the survey are available at the city's Web site, www.lacity.org. It asks people to rate how well the city delivers various services, provides charts on how the money is now spent and asks for a list of preferences on services to maintain and which to cut. It also asks specific questions on popular programs such as graffiti removal, emergency preparedness, swimming pool maintenance, sidewalk repair, homeless assistance and anti-gang efforts among others. DONE officials hope to get 3,000 responses to present to Villaraigosa's staff on Feb. 21.
City officials insist it is not a case of divide and conquer with employee unions, but it sure looks that way. The Los Angeles Police Protective League has agreed to the city's request to use the same bargaining tactics as a coalition of city unions followed this past year, called mutual gains, where the city opens its books and they come to terms.
However, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City are opposed to the concept, so far, as they continue to be upset over the contract they received in the last go-round - a three-year contract with a total increase of 10.25 percent. The firefighters wanted the same contract as that given Department of Water and Power workers of 3.25 percent a year.
This year is expected to be more difficult, given the poor local and national economy, and the city facing a $400 million shortfall. Each 1 percent increase given the workers amounts to about a $12 million hit to the budget. Now, even parking lots get their 15 minutes of fame. Wait, make that 30 seconds.
