California’s counties usually have a budget department and an elected auditor-controller. The controller handles the disbursements and the annual audit but rarely gets involved in the budget process.
The city of Los Angeles, the second most populated city in the nation behind New York City, also has an elected controller who runs citywide. And the role is similar to that of a county, where auditor-controllers run countywide and supervisors run in five districts.
The advantage of being independently elected is that the controller can be more public about the status of the city without fear of retribution from the elected mayor and city council members. The only concerns this officeholder should have are angry voters every four years when he or she is up for reelection and has a challenger, or upsetting the electorate and special interest groups so much that they mount a recall effort. However, for a city of 4 million people, it’s very difficult to unseat an incumbent at the ballot box or through an organized recall.
The current city controller for Los Angeles is Kenneth Mejia. Although he is not directly involved in the budget process, which is the job of the mayor and city council, he can still provide his insights and assist his constituents through messaging efforts.
Just like the governor of California proposes a budget and has the state Legislature review, amend, and approve it for his signature, the city of Los Angeles has its mayor submit her proposal to the city’s 15 councilmembers, who do the same. Just like the state’s independently elected controller, the city controller has no direct involvement in the process.
- A total of 1,647 city employees will be laid off.
- Of the vacant positions, 1,074 will be eliminated.
- Three departments—youth development, aging, and economic workforce development—will be consolidated.
- This is occurring because the city is facing a nearly $1 billion budget deficit due to record-level liability payouts, increased payroll costs, spending that has gone over budget, and revenue shortfalls.
- The annual budget is about $14 billion, with $6.5 billion being unrestricted, implying that the remainder is spent on federally and state-funded programs.
Consolidating departments should mean that there will be one department head versus three. It should also mean that various management positions can also be cut by two-thirds, like having only one human resources manager.
One can focus the woes on the recent fires, but there were already cracks in the foundation due to litigation settlements and departments spending more than they were budgeted. This was exacerbated when budgeted revenues did not appear as projected. And every city is seeing increased contributions to pension plans as public employee unions want a very generous defined benefit plan and raises. You can have one or the other, but wanting both is an obvious budget buster.
July 1 will come quickly, and L.A.’s full-time city council will be deliberating the next two months on what they will agree to in the mayor’s proposed budget and what they propose to modify. It’s simple math. So, increasing spending in certain areas will involve decreasing spending elsewhere.
Expect Mejia to provide continuing messaging on the process over the coming days and weeks.
Kicking the can down the road is not a solution. It’s time for action. Continue to keep us informed, Kenneth Mejia.
