Los Angeles, California
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Portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia.
Contents |
Last rated on Jan. 23, 2012
[edit] The Good
- Current and past budgets are posted.[1]
- Meeting dates, agendas, and reports are posted.[2][3]
- City Council members are listed with contact information. Each council member has an individual website with biographical and district information.[4]
- The Mayor's website has a contact form but phone number and direct email are not listed.[5]
- Names and phone numbers of city administrators are provided.[6] Email addresses for departments are also provided.[7]
- Zoning information and building permits are available.[8][9]
- Audits are posted.[10]
- Contracts are available for viewing in a searchable database/[11]
- Bids and RFPs are posted.[12]
- Contact information is given for those interested in accessing city public records.[13]
- Business tax information is provided.[14]
- Registration information is available on those registered to lobby the city. [15]
[edit] The Bad
- Information on fees and license costs is not provided.
- Information on membership in any taxpayer funded lobbying associations, or the city's own lobbying activities, is not provided.
[edit] Budget
The city's FY 2010-2011 budget closed a $492 million gap in the general fund through a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts. 2,400 city positions were eliminated, and $54 million was cut from fire departments, and $100 million was cut from police departments. It totaled $6.7 billion. The city's financial policies require that at least 2.75% of the general fund budget be allocated to the Emergency Fund.[16][17]
Los Angeles' fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 of the next year. The budget system includes a process of budget formulation, budget adoption, budgetary control, and cost control.[17]
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is postponing at least $100 million in personnel costs until after he leaves office. Villaraigosa has delayed paying for such obligations as police overtime, unused sick time, contractually agreed-upon wage hikes and an early retirement program that gave 2,400 employees full pensions five years ahead of schedule. The next mayor, and possibly the one after that, will inherit the tab. [18]
[edit] Audit
A recent audit revealed that former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo failed to investigate fraud or collect money the city was owed, cost the city $3 million.[19]
[edit] Expensive water
Los Angeles Controller Laura Chick found in a March 2009 audit that the city spends $189,000/year on bottled water. In 2006, Villaraigosa told employees to buy their own; at that time, employees were spending $89,000/year.[20]
[edit] Public employees
[edit] Elected officials
Los Angeles is governed by three elected city officers, including a mayor, and a city council. The Mayor, City Controller, and City Attorney are elected by voters every four years. The Mayor submits proposals and recommendations to the Council, enforces city ordinances, and approves or vetoes Council ordinances. [21]
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Antonio Villaraigosa | Mayor |
| Wendy Greuel | City Controller |
| Carmen Trutanich | City Attorney |
Fifteen City Council members are elected to four year terms, for a maximum of two terms.[21]
[edit] Administrative officials
A full city organizational chart can be found here. A contact list for administrative departments and officials can be found here.
[edit] Public employee salaries
- Main article: Los Angeles employee salaries
A full list of city employee salaries is provided by the City Controller's Office, and can be found here.
Elected officials' salaries are as follows:[22]
| Position | Salary |
|---|---|
| Mayor | $232,425.72 |
| City Controller | $196,667.94 |
| City Attorney | $214,546.96 |
| City Council Member | $178,789.18 |
[edit] Public Pensions
According to a recent report published at Northwestern University, Los Angeles is one of the ten municipalities with the largest amount of unfunded pension liabilities. Nationwide there is $574 billion in unfunded pension liabilities for local pension plans, and this is in addition to the $3 trillion in debt facing state-sponsored pension plans.[23] The report states that the pension plans could be out of money as early at 2025.[23]
During a budget discussion Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa raised the possibility of calling on city unions for more pension reforms. This came a year after praising union officials for willingness to pay more for retirement benefits. [24]
| Municipality (number of plans) | Liabilities, Stated Basis, June ’09 ($B) | Liabilities (ABO), Treasury Rate | Net Pension Assets ($B) | Unfunded Liability ($B) | Unfunded Liability / Revenue | Unfunded Liability per Household ($) |
| Los Angeles (3) | 34.6 | 49.3 | 23.2 | 26.1 | 378% | 18,193 |
[edit] Reform
In March, 2011, voters approved ballot Measure G, a pension reform plan that will reduce city costs from the pension and healthcare plans of newly hired Fire, Police, and Harbor employees. With the measure's passage, the average pension and health cost to the city for each new hire is expected to fall from $15,000 to $12,000 annually.[25]
[edit] Lobbying
- Main article: California taxpayer-funded lobbying
For 2007 and 2008, Los Angeles spent $2,397,335 on lobbying, while the city's attorney's office spent $192,041. Total, the city spent $2,589,376 in 2007 and 2008.[26]
[edit] Taxes
All businesses operating within the city must pay a city business tax. Information on the tax is provided by the Office of Finance.[27] Tax rates for the period of 2009-2011 can be found here.
[edit] External links
- Official city website
- City Council
- Office of the Mayor
- City Controller
- City Attorney
- Wikipedia entry
- Personnel department
[edit] References
- ↑ Budget
- ↑ City Events Calendar
- ↑ E-Packets
- ↑ City Council
- ↑ Ask the Mayor
- ↑ Phone Directory
- ↑ Contact Us
- ↑ Planning
- ↑ Building and Safety
- ↑ Audits and Reports
- ↑ City Contracts
- ↑ Bids and RFPs
- ↑ Records
- ↑ Finance
- ↑ Ethics Commission
- ↑ Wall Street Journal, L.A. Budget Deal Cuts Police, Fire, May 21, 2011
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 2010-2011 Budget Summary
- ↑ LA Times, Villaraigosa delays payment of $100 million in personnel costs, Jan. 3, 2011
- ↑ Daily News, Audit: City lost $3M by mishandling workers' comp, Oct. 13, 2010
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "L.A. County supervisors sip from customized water bottles", March 31, 2009
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Your Government At a Glance
- ↑ Salaries
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 MacIver Institute, City of Milwaukee Pension a Ticking Time Bomb According to Northwestern Study, Oct. 12, 2010
- ↑ LA Daily News, Mayor: Layoffs, pension pressure loom, March 30, 2012
- ↑ City of Los Angeles Pension Reform, Ballot Measure G, "Ballotpedia."
- ↑ State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers: How Much Do We Really Know?, Pacific Research Institute
- ↑ Office of Finance
