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[ ARCHIVE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive)
# Mayor’s Budget Based on Speculation, Not Analysis
April 25 2013
Written by Paul Hatfield.
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PERSPECTIVE- It is good that Mayor Villaraigosa wants the next mayor to cancel the last year of a five-year wage increase along with asking employees to contribute 10% of their pay towards health benefits.
It is unclear as to how he plans to reduce the banked LAPD overtime. The $15 million allocated is not even close to the [liability of $100 million projected last year](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/10/opinion/la-oe-newton-lapd-staffing-20121210).
You don’t build a budget around uncertainties, especially when the public unions have expressed no desire to offer or accept concessions.
The [mayor’s proposed budget](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-villaraigosa-budget-employee-raises-20130422,0,4416165.story) is a wish list, not a budget. It would not pass scrutiny in the real world.
The City Council should reject it out of hand and insist the mayor propose specific cuts rather than speculative assumptions.
This budget is the equivalent of filing a frivolous tax return…..and you know what the IRS does when they receive one of those.
I hope the mayoral candidates are put on the spot as to what they think of Villaraigosa’s attempt at handing off his problems and how they propose to deal with the scheduled raise and higher benefit contribution.
*(Paul Hatfield is a CPA and serves as Treasurer for the Neighborhood Council Valley Village. He blogs at Village to Village, contributes to CityWatch and can be reached at: )* –cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 34
Pub: Apr 26, 2013
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