LA WATCHDOG - Controller Wendy Greuel was absolutely correct when she criticized Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council for their “dangerous and completely unacceptable” approval of the City’s kick-the-can-down-the-road budget as they once again failed to make the “hard choices” necessary to halt the City’s rapid decline towards insolvency.
But it is only fair to ask Mayoral front runner Wendy Greuel what is her specific plan or solution to avoid insolvency, where her old standby of “waste, fraud, and abuse” is not an acceptable answer.
And this is not an unreasonable request for this long time City Hall insider who has an excellent working knowledge of the City’s operations and finances, having served two terms on the City Council, one term as Controller, and 10 years working as a liaison for Mayor Bradley.
But do not hold your breath.
We have been waiting almost three years for Greuel, the self proclaimed “independent fiscal watchdog for the people of Los Angeles,” to honor her inauguration day pledge that her “first order of business as City Controller will be to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the financial health of the City, complete with revenue projections and cost estimates, including our looming pension obligations.”
Since July 1, 2009, Greuel has also failed to take any action to publicize or eliminate the Structural Deficit caused by out of control increases in salaries, benefits, and pensions.
Nor has this City Controller exposed or commented on the City’s budget and financial shenanigans, whether it was the overstatement of revenues, the understatement of expenses such as deferred civilian raises and banked police overtime, the gaming of the pension plan assumptions that allowed the City to lower its contribution to its already massively underfunded pension plans, or the failure to fund the maintenance and repair of our lunar cratered streets and deteriorating infrastructure.
But Wendy Greuel is not the only front runner who has failed to address the Structural Deficit and funny money games at City Hall.
Eric Garcetti, the City Council President for the last six years and therefore one of the principle architects of City’s dire financial condition, is no prince when it comes to developing a specific plan or solution to address the City’s pending insolvency. To the contrary, this key member of the Executive Employee Relations Committee that was responsible for the out of control increases in personnel costs told an audience at a local fund raiser that he was not prepared to develop a plan until after the March 2013 election.
But these two wannabe mayors are not the only culprits who have failed to develop a specific plan or solution that address the City’s dire financial condition.
For instance, why hasn’t The Los Angeles Times, our paper of record, exposed the Enron like financial shenanigans of our Elected Elite as they created a $20 billion Black Hole that will burden the next generation of Angelenos?
And why hasn’t The Times developed a specific plan or solution to address City Hall’s moral and financial bankruptcy?
However, times may be changing over at The Times. During the special election for Council District 15, the Editorial Board began holding the candidates’ feet to the fire, asking the uncomfortable candidates for detailed information about the funding and implementation of their campaign promises.
Actually, there may be an easy way out for Wendy and Eric.
Rather that developing detailed plans, department by department, line item by line item, the Mayor and the City Council, along with the blessing of Greuel and Garcetti and all the other candidates for public office, can embrace charter reform by placing a measure on the March 2013 ballot that would require the City to “Live Within Its Means.”
The “Live Within Its Means” charter amendment would require the City to develop and adhere to a Five Year Financial Plan, approve two year balanced budgets based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, to properly fund our infrastructure and pension plans, and to have actual funding for any new spending initiatives.
This charter amendment would allow Greuel and Garcetti and all the other candidates for public office to avoid having to make difficult decisions on how to allocate scarce resources and would allow those decisions to be made in a more rational manner than on the campaign trail.
Not only will the charter amendment relieve the pressure on the candidates, it will also send a strong signal to voting Angelenos that the City is serious about financial reform.
And without financial reform, the probability of the voters approving any tax or fee increase is remote at best, whether it is the extension of Measure R, the County’s $276 million stormwater parcel fee, or increases in the City’s hotel, parking, or documentary transfer taxes.
It is very simple: No Reform. No Revenues.
So Wendy and Eric, and Jan and Kevin, will you support the “Live Within Its Means” ballot measure?
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee and the Ratepayer Advocate for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. Humphreville is the publisher of the Recycler -- www.recycler.com. He can be reached at: [email protected]) –cw
Tags: Jack Humphreville, LA Watchdog, Wendy Greuel, Eric Garcetti, Kevin James, Jan Perry, city budget, budget deficit, budget black hole, budget deficit, City Controller, LA Times, Los Angeles
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 44
Pub: June 1, 2012