It’s Bad--and Getting Worse : Los Angeles will need sacrifices from everybody

Mayor Tom Bradley and the Los Angeles City Council must approve deep and painful cuts in municipal services to compensate for a huge budget deficit, nearly $183 million. Public safety, however, must not be sacrificed.

To prevent wholesale cuts in police services, the mayor and council could divert $30 million from community redevelopment activities that include affordable housing, child care and other worthwhile projects. That amount would offset only half of the proposed cuts in the LAPD budget.

Bradley and the council also could ask every city employee and the unions to make a hard sacrifice--to work without pay one day a month. At least 70% of the operating budget goes for wages and salaries; the savings could be $48 million a year. When added to funds that, under one plan, would come from the Community Redevelopment Agency, the amount would restore most police and fire services.

Restoring most other municipal services probably won’t be possible. The recession continues to cut deeply into sales taxes, business taxes, license fees and other major sources of general revenue. As municipal revenues continue to decline, expenses such as workers’ compensation claims, employee health insurance and pensions continue to rise. And new taxes make no sense in a recession.

This bleak fiscal scenario demands sacrifice. The mayor would severely reduce library hours, close swimming pools, limit after-school programs and postpone tree trimming.

Bradley also would cut $59.3 million from the LAPD, a move that would reduce the force by nearly 700 officers. Police presence would be diminished further by a cut in overtime. The department is already understaffed for a city of this size.

The mayor would reduce firefighters at 14 stations, a loss that would increase response times.

To preserve public safety, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky wants to tap the CRA for the $30 million to pay off bond debt for the Central Library and the Convention Center. The CRA can legally support these facilities because they are in redevelopment areas. The agency cannot pay directly for police services, but the CRA is supporting state legislation that would allow the use of its funds to improve public safety in redevelopment areas.

If the council taps the CRA funds, it should do so with care. Taking those scarce dollars will postpone some affordable-housing, child-care and other important projects. Perhaps the CRA board could attach strings, such as demanding more foot patrols in redevelopment areas, to prevent this drain from becoming an annual habit.

Balancing the city budget will require major, and we hope temporary, sacrifices from everybody in Los Angeles, including city employees and the CRA.