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 Now that the mayor has made the decision the city council could or would not, and ordered the layoffs of 1,000 city employees in an effort to eliminate the budget deficit, it appears the illusion of shared sacrifice has officially been dissolved.
Of course, this matter is now up for debate as the city attorney has challenged the mayor’s authority to give such a directive. But even without the weight of layoffs on their shoulders, the city council has plenty to contend with in the coming week. Tuesday’s council agenda is teeming with budget related-items the council must act on. A significant number of the new agenda items pertain to the CAO's Three Year Plan to Fiscal Sustainability. Here is an abbreviated version of the budget-related items for Tuesday: Item 11 contains a whopping 41 individual points of recommendation for the council to consider. These include looking for a new outside contractor to collect overdue parking citations, eliminating the Neighborhood Council rollover funds policy and bank card system, and plans for reorganization of libraries and parks. Take a look at the laundry list of items, here. Item 12 recommends the establishment of a Revenue Collection Review Task Force. The task force would identify and take steps to go after all of the revenues due to the city and would look for ways to streamline and make the collection of owed funds more efficient. Item 13 cracks down on planning and building safety permit and code violations, establishing fees and penalties for late- issued permits, zoning and code violations, as well as construction without permits, and failure to comply with any department order. Item 14 instructs the CAO and the Personnel Department to report to the council about the implementation of City Union concessions as well as the vacant positions and positions eligible for transfer from the General to Special fund to address the growing budget deficit. Item 15 looks at a recommendation from the Mid-Year Financial Status Report and the CAO’s Three Year Plan (Item 50 – see below). The council requests that the recommendation be put before the Education and Neighborhoods Committee before a decision is made. #50:
Modify the funding of the Neighborhood Empowerment Program as follows:
a) Eliminate the rollover policy that allows Neighborhood Councils to accumulate up to $145,000 of prior year unspent allocation;
b) Eliminate the bank card petty cash system and redefine and restrict Neighborhood Council expenditure categories; and
c) Instruct the City Administrative Officer to prepare the necessary actions to reprogram Neighborhood Empowerment Funds to offset the City’s budget gap Item 16 is related to the privatization of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The council has asked the CAO to look into the pros and cons of allowing private ownership of the venue as well as presenting any proposals to the Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee prior to issuing a request for proposals. Item 17, like Item 12, is related to the collection of monies owed to the city. Essentially the motion requests that the city move to hear proposals from outside collections agencies to retrieve the city’s money. Item 18 is also focused on the collection of all outstanding debts owed to the city. The CAO and CLA will present the council with an updated list of uncollected tax debts (about $400 million). The Office of Finance will then pursue legal measures to collect these debts. Methods for collection include: - Cancellation of all City business licenses and permits, and contracts with the delinquent business including any of its subsidiaries
- Debarment from any City contracts
- Expediting of City administrative and legal processes to recover the delinquent taxes
- Hiring additional collections staff and legal assistance
Just another day around the horseshoe...
UPDATE (02/09/10): The Supplemental Agenda - Item No. 20
The council will decided on an additional motion meant to create a special meeting secession every Monday and Thursday at 10 a.m. in order to tackle the Fiscal Year 2009/10 and 2010/11 budget deficits. The meeting will "allow for discussions and actions, as appropriate to allow city staff and others to report on budget balancing matters and to provide for the ability to meet in closed executive session as it may relate to bargaining instructions relative to negotiations with employees and employee organizations." Read the entire supplemental agenda (PDF), here. Related Links:
Paul Hatfield: What's Next on City Council Agenda
ACTION ALERT: Fight City Hall's Plan to Close Our Parks
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