Layoffs - Mini Mayor spins it today

Here is a City memo that you will not get from ITA management:

CITY OF LOS ANGELES
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE

Date: April 11, 2008

To: Department Personnel Directors

From: Tom Coultas, Assistant City Administrative Officer

Subject: MAYOR’S PRESS CONFERENCE

For your information:

1. Today at noon the Mayor will be holding a press conference to discuss the ‘people impacts’ of the cuts proposed in his up-coming budget.

2. The Mayor plans to stress the City’s top priorities and core functions (including continuing current police hiring plan). He will also express the need to spread the cuts appropriately to protect these priorities and core functions while minimizing the effect on services to the public.

3. The Mayor will be announcing that the deficit for Fiscal Year 2008-09 is just over $400 million.

4. The proposed budget will include the elimination of over 700 positions, some of which are vacant, but many of which are existing City employees. If asked, position elimination will also likely include short-term layoffs such as mandatory furloughs, reduced workweeks, or unpaid City shutdown periods.

5. The Mayor is setting a target of $1.50 in cuts for every $1.00 in revenue received from the new/increased fees in his proposed budget.
_______________________________________
From latimes.com after Mini Mayor spoke:

Villaraigosa to slash 767 jobs, impose 'deep and painful' cuts to close L.A. budget gap. He promises $1.50 in cuts for every $1 in new fees imposed to close a $406-million spending gap.

By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, 2:52 PM PDT

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said today that he would cut 767 jobs this year to eliminate a $406-million budget shortfall as the city tries to weather a prolonged economic downturn.

With sales and property tax revenue lagging, Villaraigosa also promised to impose $1.50 in cuts for every $1 in new fees handed down to taxpayers and consumers of city services in his proposed budget.Villaraigosa refused to reveal what services would be scaled back, saying only that there would be "deep and painful cuts." He also sent strong signals that he will pursue a range of fee hikes, including an increase in the city's trash collection fee.

The mayor has already asked the city's budget analysts to look at increasing the trash fee by up to $12 per month, from to $38 from $26. "We're looking at the biggest budget deficit in L.A. history, so we're going to have to make the tough choices," he said.

Villaraigosa offered his budget teaser three days before his scheduled State of the City speech, an address that is expected to focus heavily on the city's fight against gangs. One week after that address, the mayor will release his budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, which begins July 1.By cutting 767 positions, Villaraigosa would bring down the size of the city's budgeted workforce by roughly 2% -- just above the level when he took office. Although some of those positions are vacant, Villaraigosa predicted that some employees would be laid off from their jobs. Villaraigosa said none of the reductions would apply to police or fire fighting positions.

A representative of Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents city workers, refused to say whether it would lobby against the reductions. Simboa Wright, a member of the SEIU's bargaining team at City Hall, said his members are trying to come up with ideas to soften the effect of the budget crunch.

"We are going to do our best to assist the city with their problem," he said.The proposal for cuts and fee increases comes a few months after Villaraigosa signed off on a five-year package of pay raises for roughly 22,000 city workers. The plan also coincides with Villaraigosa's continuing effort to hire 1,000 new officers for the Los Angeles Police Department, which hit the halfway mark earlier this year.

To keep that program intact, the city's elected officials have been trying to determine how many fees they can raise -- and services they can reduce -- without incurring the wrath of constituents.

Council members have raised the possibility of shifting the cost of sidewalk repairs from city government to property owners.Councilwoman Janice Hahn proposed a new oil extraction fee. Councilman Bill Rosendahl has proposed a four-fold increase in parking meter fees.