CITYWATCH - Miguel Santana, LA’s Finance Chief, brought his gloomy budget message to Neighborhood Councils on Saturday: new taxes, layoffs, privatization of some City services or face the prospect of bankruptcy.
Santana spoke to 80-plus NC leaders and stakeholders at the LA Coalition of Neighborhood Councils meeting at DWP headquarters on Hope Street … the only place the word ‘hope’ came up during the two-hour session.
LA’s CAO told the gathering that the City’s budget has been, is and will be for some years “a budget in crisis.” It’s simple math, Santana points out. It costs considerably more to manage the City and to deliver services than the City takes in in revenue. A difference that could grow to $427 million by 2014.
If the City Council and the Mayor don’t overhaul the City’s finances they will be unable to avoid the dreaded ‘bk’ dilemma. And by overhaul, Santana means added new taxes, possible layoffs and the privatization of some City services … like paramedics, the zoo and LA Convention Center.
Santana told the NC’s that City services “could be devastated” … including public safety. He also recommended raising parking taxes and documentary transfer taxes as a way of providing income to the City. The two could increase City income, he says, by $100 million … but both actions would have to be approved by voters. (Click here for pdf version of Santana’s report and recommendations.)
The Budget Chief repeated his controversial pitch for farming out some City services to private companies and non-profits. In addition to ambulance services, the zoo and convention center, he also suggests bringing in outside laborers to handle the City’s custodial, street maintenance and information tech work.
The Mayor’s budget is due in a matter of days … April 20. The City will likely face a $222 million budget shortfall … and City Council will be tempted again to patch it up with short-term and one-off solutions that simply mask the crisis cancer.
Santana’s message on Saturday seemed to be: LA has run out of time for those kinds of ‘solutions.’ Options may be unpleasant but are clearer and becoming more difficult to avoid. Even local government can’t avoid going out of business if they continue to spend a third again more that they are bringing in.
As for Neighborhood Councils, stop pretending that a few budget reps and a couple of Community Impact Statements fulfills your Charter responsibility on the City’s Budget. Make your presence felt. Speak for your community as the Charter mandates. Make sure your elected officials suck it up and do the right thing. The future of your LA depends on it.
(Ken Draper is the editor of CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected]) -cw
Tags: City budget, Miguel Santana, Neighborhood Councils
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 29
Pub: Apr 10, 2012