LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council passed a $7.2 billion budget Monday that largely preserved austerity measures proposed in the mayor’s budget.
The council voted to cut 200 unfilled city staff positions, but postponed a decision about laying off the 699 people proposed in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s budget.
Pink slips could still be in the offing for some city workers, as the council voted to postpone the decision on layoffs until January.
The council’s Budget and Finance Committee spent two weeks making adjustments to the budget proposed by Villaraigosa before sending it to the council for a final vote.
The committee was able to whittle the number of straight-out layoffs to 11 positions, but the council postponed the decision until January when it will have the final numbers on property taxes from the city’s chief administrative officer and a final tally on the money it bills the state for ambulance services, said Councilwoman Jan Perry.
“We had to find $238 million in savings to address this year’s deficit,” Perry said. “The good news is that is $98 million less than last year.”
There is a risk associated with this, so in January the council may have to make decisions to lay off those 11 people and address the city’s financial health if projected revenues fall short, Perry said.
The budget continues the process of eliminating vacant positions that remained unfilled because of a managed hiring process all the city departments have been engaged in, she said.
Perry said she fought to maintain the rainy-day fund that is based on 2.75% of receipts in the reserve fund. Perry introduced Charter Amendment P to establish the rainy-day fund and it was approved by voters last year.
“It is called the budget stabilization and rainy-day fund,” Perry said. “It is to sock money away when we have some good years.”
Though Los Angeles has taken steps to stabilize finances, Perry said the city will have to continue to take austerity steps for years to come.
Full economic recovery for the city will come by creating new jobs and building new projects that put people back to work, said the councilwoman, who runs the committee overseeing plans by AEG to build a National Football League stadium and new convention center in downtown Los Angeles.
The council is not counting on receiving money from the dissolution of the Community Redevelopment Agency-Los Angeles, she said.
“As far as what may happen after CRA-LA assets are disposed of, is still up for discussion, so none of this was premised on that,” she said.
The City Council had until June 1 to pass the budget, but approved it unanimously on Monday night.
The mayor now has 10 days to approve or veto the budget.
“I have been in communication with the mayor and we are confident that he is going to be comfortable with the budget we passed,” said Councilman Tony Cardenas, a member of the city’s Budget and Finance Committee. “We were able to balance the politics with the structural deficit issues. I think we were a little more careful this year to balance one-time expenditures against ongoing income.”
The council decided not to fund the additional debt management position through the city’s general fund, Cardenas said.
“I spoke to the [city’s chief administrative officer, Miguel Santana]. and when we got down to the details of what kind of position was needed, [Santana] said he will be able to bring that person on a consulting basis from other funds,” Cardenas said. “So, we didn’t put it in the general fund budget.”
Within the next couple of weeks, city officials plan to draw up a request for proposals seeking consultants to aid the city’s debt management team in refundings and the myriad other tasks required of the five-member team.
