Last Friday was supposed to be a hard deadline for the City Council to resolve the City budget crisis. It was also supposed to be a hard deadline for Governor Schwarzenegger to submit a definitive plan to federal judges to reduce state prison overcrowding. No one should be shocked that “Fateful Friday” came and went with neither issue resolved; after all, we are entering into Day 84 without a contract for police officers. To many, this is just another reminder of how slowly government moves, and how problems grow bigger as key decisions and actions are deferred again and again.
After a week of tense negotiations and veto threats, a coalition of City labor unions reached a tentative agreement with City Hall that provides an early retirement option for 2,400 employees and spares six of the City’s civilian employee unions from layoffs or furloughs, at least for now. But the deal must now be approved by the union members in a process that will take three weeks. Even if it is approved, no one knows how many employees might choose to retire or how the City hopes to erase more than two-thirds of this year’s $405 million budget deficit that isn’t potentially addressed by Friday’s tentative deal. Meanwhile, with each passing day, the City budget deficit grows by at least $1 million.
The lack of decisiveness on the part of City officials extends to negotiations for a new MOU for police officers. While the LAPPL has offered specific cost savings in the range of $90 million to $150 million that don’t require officer furloughs or layoffs, the EERC is dragging their feet. The result is we now find ourselves over two months without a contract while the City has forgone millions of dollars in real savings that the League has suggested.
On the state level, the Governor’s prison plan resolves nothing. Instead, it sets up a future confrontation between the Governor and the judges. While in the short run that is preferable to thousands of inmates being released to our neighborhoods, it leaves for another day an understanding of the crime implications of a final resolution of these thorny issues.
As much as everyone would like to know with certainty what we face as a City and as a people in the coming months, odds are “hard” deadlines will continue to come and go without definitive solutions. Indeed, we may find it necessary to ratchet up our campaign to keep governments' priorities straight, and keep public safety first and foremost as crucial decisions are made in these, the most difficult economic times since the Depression.
