L.A. City Council OKs more pay cuts to help offset budget shortfall

Still facing a $100-million budget shortfall, the Los Angeles City Council has given the go-ahead to cut the pay of an additional 800 employees, imposing a 5% reduction for city workers who do not belong to a union.

Looking to save $2 million, the council agreed to take four hours of pay out of the 80-hour paychecks of department heads, policy analysts, human resources employees and aides to council members, according to a memo issued Monday by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the city’s top budget official.

The pay cut, which starts Dec. 6 and remains in effect through June 30, 2010, represents a half-furlough day per pay period. It is only the latest rollback for the city’s civilian employees.

Workers with the Coalition of L.A City Unions, which represents 22,000 employees, have already had their pay cut 4.4% through June 30. Employees of the Engineers and Architects Assn. have been told to take 26 unpaid days off over the course of a year.

The temporary pay cuts are part of a larger effort to slash payroll costs. Since Monday, roughly 1,500 city employees have applied for early retirement. Another 400 already planned to depart earlier this year.

Still, not everyone is facing cuts this year. The council voted behind closed doors last Friday to give employees of the Department of Water and Power a 3.25% cash bonus this year and raises of 2% to 4% each of the following four years. Those increases come back for a final vote later this month.

-- David Zahniser at L.A. City Hall

Comments

[Westside Guy]

Wait...so DWP workers get a pay raise while everyone else gets a pay cut?!? All this while my water/power bills continue to climb? Something is fishy here.

[Oracle]

And...... how much of a pay cut did the Mayor, the City Council and the other Elected Officials take....not one penny! How much did the Mayor and the City Council cut their office budgets...not one penny. They still have their FAT salaries, they still have their slush funds (with no spending over site).

The city is 100 million short of balancing the budget, yet we spend
7.25 million on a replacement for a email system that didn't need replacing.
9 million on buying land to turn it into a park and close out a lawsuit

And...DWP get a pay raise, while the rest of the city gets flooded out with every new water main break!

Is it me, or is there a problem with the city's decision process!

[Rosee]

This City Council is out of control.

Did the Council Members or their staff take cuts?

These DWP raises should be thoroughly investigated and the council who voted for them.

The city could save money if those city workers who have reached full retirement status..RETIRE..a forced retirement. This would in turn make way for those who are looking for work an opportunity to get a position and for those who have been waiting for a promotion.

Also..a retired city employee should not be allowed to come back on the city payroll in another position and collect retirement and salary. There are too many people out there needing jobs!

Retired employees shouldn't get a raise when their working counterparts get one! Who thought that one up!

[NarNar]

I wonder why COUNCIL MEMBERS all 15 of them are making a salary of $170,000.00+? Check the URL if you are curious.

District 1 Ed Reyes
District 2 vacant
District 3 Dennis P. Zine
District 4 Tom LaBonge
District 5 Paul Koretz
District 6 Tony Cardenas
District 7 Richard Alarcon
District 8 Bernard Parks (200K+ annual Pension from LA)
District 9 Jan Perry
District 10 Herb J. Wesson Jr.
District 11 Bill Rosendahl
District 12 Greig Smith
District 13 Eric Garcetti
District 14 Jose Huizar
District 15 Janice Hahn

Why are your salaries tied to raises with LA County court judges. You Council Members are drawing the highest council member salary in the US. Don't tell me it's cost of living because NYC, San Fran, Anaheim, are also expensive cities to live in but thier council member draw $100K a month.

Here is simple math. The extra $70K x 15 member equally = $1,050,000.00 tax dollars. Divide that by $45,000.00 (avg. annual salary of teacher on the high side)= drum roll please...

23 teachers a year! Now 23 teachers are un-employed because you 15 members suck up tax payers dollars. How do you sleep at night and smile at your constituents. OH it's easy...because most people in LA are uninformed or too busy losing jobs and homes to notice. That is so sick =(. Now CA wants to take more taxes (and give it back at the end of the year.. oh please). Sick, Sick, Sick.

And that's the truth.

NOTE.

[socalife]

DWP employees already make about 10-15% more than regular city workers. so now they get raises?

that's reaaal suspect.

[NarNar]

Council Members should reduce their salary from current $170,000.00 to $95,000.00 a year. If we base if on the performance of the city this salary should be down to $65,000.00 a year. Look at the LINK BELOW Los Angeles and know why we are broke. Or click my name for the link.

NOTE: Antonio Villaraigosa (LA Mayor)
$200K+ a year
Ramone Corzine (LA Unifies School District Sup.)
$200K+ a year

Vice President of the US Joe Biden makes: $200,000.00+

What's wrong with this picture?
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/politics/amazing-los-angeles-city-counc/

[Ramon]

Did Mr. Parks Pension get reduced as well? Maybe we need to clean house with the elected officals running the show. They seem to never get any cuts.

[Bob Johnson]

Well, as long as the union slobs don't suffer in any way, all will remain right with the world.

[Da Maverick]

Hey NarNar, nice math but even if you trimmed a council members pay to the amount you suggested, it wouldn't re-instate on laid off teacher.

Why? The State of California funds education, including teachers. The city picks up your trash, sweeps your streets, and gives you an under-manned police force.

Apparently, people aren't too busy losing jobs and homes, but apparently they're too busy to learn the division of labor of government between state and local.

[skeptical taxpayer]

Doesn't Bernard Parks, head of the Budget Committee which "oversaw" this mess for years, get almost $300,000 year in pension plus salary, that's some $500,000. How does he know what the average person faces these days, or the lowly council deputy who's paid as little as $30,000/ year and has to take the brunt of constituent anger, show up at their meetings to get yelled at and so on?

Dennis Zine gets $80,000/ year pension as a former Sargeant. Now as a reserve officer he throws his weight around as a councilmember, bossing around the Chief of LAPD, what he did to Bratton for years, the most respected chief in America, was shameful, anything to get his name on some "motion." Why doesn't he do something useful and give back the pension as an example? He and Bernard Parks are examples of why people are furious.

The DWP employees are perhaps just a scapegoat in all this. Even if their salaries were cut or they got furloughed like everyone else, it wouldn't make up for the decades of neglect on not fixing our broken water pipes and overhead power lines.

This mismanagement has gone on for decades, even when the city and state were flush with cash, our "leaders" spent like drunken sailors with nothing of substance to show for it. I don't trust this self-serving bunch to suddenly come up with long-term solutions now. Besides these easy fixes that hurt lower-level employees mostly, what programs will they consoliate or cut while making sure we get our vital services? I hope the firefighters' union doesn't get MORE for stonewalling and playing scare tactics with the public, either.

Two firefighters, one of whom Capt. Frank Lima is allegedly negotiating for the union against the city, were just awarded $8 million between them for alleged discrimination of some kind. No "high fiving" from our boastful foolish sue-and-jail-all-his-critics city attorney, as he boasts about all the money he's saving while in reality, attracted lots of personal and class action lawsuits and he's hiring hundreds of secret police to enforce his vendettas, hiring back dozens of lawyers let go for budget reasons last 5 years, etc.

Where's the Controller on suggesting the BIG picture? Still unable to audit these councilmembers and the city attorney because Trutanooch is holding her hostage, refused to pay Chick's lawyer a mere $100,000 and drop the suit - only "letting" her audit Rocky's old books to try to find dirt on HIM. The DWP dispararity everyone focuses on (having made a huge stink about former DWP head Nahai's severence salary which is peanuts in the overall scheme of things) is only the TIP of the iceberg here.

[Da Maverick]

Hey NarNar, nice math but even if you trimmed a council members pay to the amount you suggested, it wouldn't re-instate on laid off teacher.

Why? The State of California funds education, including teachers. The city picks up your trash, sweeps your streets, and gives you an under-manned police force.

Apparently, people aren't too busy losing jobs and homes, but apparently they're too busy to learn the division of labor of government between state and local.

[John]

Just cut OUT the City councils PERKS, Im sure we will save a pretty penny.

[City Employee]

I'm already taking voluntary and mandatory work furlough on a small salary of $30,000 plus annual salary which comes out as less than $30k. Giving a pay raise to DWP employees when all other unions are suffering pay cuts do not make common sense. How do you justify this inequality? Not only is this unjustified but, immoral at most. Most city employees are taking a pay cut except, the city council, mayor and DWP. If the city is serious about saving city funds start cutting with the city councils salaries, the mayor and DWP union.

[Recall]

People of the City Of LA. It's time to start thinking about recalling your Council members and the mayor! They are trying to make quick fixes but with no real long term solutions. Notice the mayor and the city council are NOT taking pay cuts when they make more money than anyone....so much for shared sacrifice. People need to start calling and writing their council members and tell them to reject the pay raises for dwp employees. The infrastructure is falling apart, the City is broke but yet they still are getting a nice fat raise! WTH!!!

[Ridiculous]

Didn't the City Council just buy some land for $9 million yesterday because they ignored their own City Attorney's counsel? Wow! Now they cut the salaries of hard working city employees because they forced themselves into a lawsuit they knew they couldn't win.

[City guy]

DWP has to get a raise, if not, then there will be more waterlines breaking and power outages.

[Astonished]

People living in the City, whether or not they are employees of the City are suffering! Yet the Council has the unmitigated gall to give DWP a raise! I lost power, for hours, twice within the last 2-weeks! So what do my DWP fees go to? I think it is time to trim the fat and it should start at the top. The Mayor needs a 75% pay cut, the council should be trimmed in half and take a 50% cut in pay. They should lose their slush funds; perks, and car privleges, and should be put on a merit pay system. You don't perform you job to benefit the citizens, you don't get paid! We should lose at least 49 of the 50 Deputy Mayors and their $198,000.00 annual salaries along with all the other elected officials. I'll bet the City would start making up the deficit then!

[JOE S]

its sad that poor management has gotten us to this place, and the people that put us here are still running the show, will they ever think about the quality of life in the communitys of the quickly failing city of los angeles, or just stay with the status quo, and line there pockets! at least get education RIGHT!

[unionbuilt]

If it wasn’t for the Airport The DWP and the Harbor dept. their wouldn’t be any money for any of the other Deptments period... not to mention that being an electrical line worker is in the top 5 most dangerous jobs in America!! And I bet it sure is nice to have all that electricity to turn your computers on so you can wine and complain about something you know absolutely nothing about. The DWP employees are greedy you say, until Mother Nature burns down the power lines and there out there in the Dark in the rain up a pole working with thousands of volts of electricity trying to get your light back on then its hurry get my power back on. Hers an idea, go with out it. You probably couldn't go one day. But that’s what will happen if there aren’t any utility workers that will do the dangerous job for no compensation. So why don’t you put the computer down and pick up an application there always hiring… but you probably couldn’t hack it!

[Joe Dimas]

It's just a shame and disgrace to the tax payers in the City of Los Angles. Why is it that DWP workers and City Council are not sharing the pain?

[unionbuilt]

If it wasn’t for the Airport The DWP and the Harbor dept. their wouldn’t be any money for any of the other Deptments period... not to mention that being an electrical line worker is in the top 5 most dangerous jobs in America!! And I bet it sure is nice to have all that electricity to turn your computers on so you can wine and complain about something you know absolutely nothing about. The DWP employees are greedy you say, until Mother Nature burns down the power lines and there out there in the Dark in the rain up a pole working with thousands of volts of electricity trying to get your light back on then its hurry get my power back on. Hers an idea, go with out it. You probably couldn't go one day. But that’s what will happen if there aren’t any utility workers that will do the dangerous job for no compensation. So why don’t you put the computer down and pick up an application there always hiring… but you probably couldn’t hack it!

[lacityworker]

I can't believe DWP is getting raises ranging from 2%-4% in each of the next five years! I have co-workers (EAA) that are on two furlough days a month (losing $500 plus a month) and now me and approximately 22,000 coalition city employees have started our 3.5 furlough hours. We are all City employees - it is now DWP's turn to start doing their furlough hours/days. WHY should City employess who do not work for DWP get penalized? We all work just as hard if not harder! We all should share the burden of this make believe financial crisis we are supposedly in. The City of Los Angeles has the money! They helped pay for the Laker Parade and have spent millions on changing the City's e-mail system. I am so disgusted with City Council members and the Mayor! They are inept - they all need to be replaced.
I do not know how the City Council with one hand can say we are in a budget crisis and there will have to be layoffs and furloughs but on the greedy hand they give raises to DWP workers!
Who is going to bail out the furloughed City workers when they start losing their homes?? DWP??
ALL City employees it is time we should band together and have our voices heard loud and clear - we are not going to take it any longer........!

[Astonished]

Dear Unionbuilt: Sorry, I'm not buy your argument for a minute! I happen to live in the City, and in spite of huge fee hikes, you still can't keep the power flowing to my house. I lost power for hours twice within two weeks! While I will grant your jobs are dangerous, so are others who work for the City. If the City is supposedly so close to being bankrupt that everyone has to suffer, then it should be everyone -- even you!

[JustAnotherTaxpayer]

Do you honestly think the City Council crooks care? They are all in it for themselves. I honestly believe the City workers should shut the City down. Stop all work. There is only so much loyalty to the City when they keeps screwing the employees over and over. How come the Council crooks don't take huge paycuts themselves (lead by example.) How come behind closed door session the DWP got a raise while in open session the rest of the employees got a paycut? How come the Fire Department has to rotate staffing shortages from station to station and the Police Department isn't getting a raise for 2 years and lost bonus? How come the "leaders" don't care? Why? Because they are still getting paid and they think they are better than us little people. It's amazing how big egos are in City Hall. They are too important to the City... we're all going to come apart without their leadership. Yeah... right. Fire them all. Start over!