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Failure on City Budget Not an Option |
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A BUDGET CRISIS PERSPECTIVE
By Eric Garcetti (Posted first at huffingtonpost.com)
Our city is facing the toughest economy we have seen since the Great Depression, and it will take a focused and concerted effort by all city leaders to balance our budget while continuing to provide key services that are essential to getting our economy back on track.
Last October, the Mayor and City Council worked closely with the Coalition of City Unions, which represents a maj ority of city employees, on an unprecedented agreement that saved $80 million and prevented massive layoffs.
But our national recession continues to severely impact our revenues. Even with thousands of employees voluntarily agreeing to early retirement and many more being furloughed, the City of Los Angeles still faces a $200 million budget gap in the current fiscal year, which ends in June. Worse yet, our budget analysts predict that gap will more than double next year if we do not take swift action that will provide ongoing savings rather than a one-time fix.
On Wednesday, the City Council met in a marathon session to review our current financial situation and passed a number of motions, including those that will encourage more employees to voluntarily retire and move as many employees from jobs funded by our general fund into jobs funded through grants, special funds, or other revenues. (The rest of Eric Garcetti’s article here.)
(Eric Garcetti is the president of the Los Angeles City Council and Councilman for Councilman for the 13th District. This article was posted first at huffingtonpost.com ) -cw
CityWatch
Vol 8 Issue 11
Pub: Feb 9, 2010
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