The Cost of Importing Poverty
The City of Angels has the Devil to Pay
Los Angeles Times -- April 7
L.A. budget chief warns of bankruptcy without tax hikes, layoffs
|
|
| Villaraigosa and the SEIU fought to legalize illegal aliens in Los Angeles. |
Los Angeles' top budget official raised the specter of bankruptcy Friday in a sweeping report that calls for new taxes, possible layoffs and the privatization of some city services.
Chief Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said rising employee costs combined with flat-lining revenues have left the city in a precarious position. Even after reducing its workforce by 4,900 positions in recent years, the city faces a $222-million budget shortfall, he said, a figure that is expected to rise to $427 million by 2014-15.
"We're always in crisis mode," Santana said in an interview. "We're always trying to close that shortfall." Without cutting costs and coming up with about $150 million in new revenue, "we're facing the complete devastation of city services, including public safety," he said.
Santana's report comes a few weeks before Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is set to release his proposed budget for 2012-13. [...]
David Sanders, the director of Service Employees International Union, Local 721, said city leaders are to blame for the city's fiscal crisis. "To say that city employees are the problem is just wrong," he said. |
|
External links may expire at any time.
|
| 
| 
| Tweet
