{"id":248169,"date":"2010-01-29T17:30:28","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T22:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a82c8537970b"},"modified":"2010-01-29T17:28:35","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T22:28:35","slug":"villaraigosa-says-layoffs-not-the-only-budget-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/248169","title":{"rendered":"Villaraigosa says layoffs not the only budget solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Villaraigosa-sinco-schoolsJan2010\"<\/img><\/a>
\nThe appetite for layoffs may be fading at Los Angeles City Hall, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa saying that other concessions by the city\u2019s workforce could go a long way toward eliminating a nearly $200-million budget shortfall.
<\/br>
<\/br>Standing outside his office, the mayor told reporters this afternoon that the city could address much of the financial crisis if public employee unions agreed to reduce their pay — or let some city services be performed by cheaper, private contractors. Villaraigosa also said that the city could address its spiraling retirement costs if workers agreed to pay more toward their pensions \u2013 9% of their salaries instead of the current 7%.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cIf they contributed a couple of percentage points more, that could put us in a much stronger financial position,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we work through this together, I think we can minimize layoffs.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>The mayor and five City Council members have instructed their top budget analyst, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, to come up with a report explaining how the city could eliminate at least 1,000 city jobs \u2013 either through layoffs or by moving employees into vacant posts that aren\u2019t covered by the cash-strapped general fund budget. That report is due by the end of the afternoon.
<\/br><\/p>\n

Barbara Maynard, spokeswoman for the Coalition of L.A. City Unions, did not respond to Villaraigosa\u2019s comments. She previously has said the city should move more quickly with last year\u2019s plan to give 2,400 workers early retirement. \u201cThey haven\u2019t implemented the contract we\u2019ve already negotiated, and there are cost-saving opportunities there,\u201d she said.
<\/br>
<\/br>Councilwoman Janice Hahn said today that she too is \u201cnot convinced\u201d of the need for layoffs. But she voiced support for moving 1,000 employees out of their current jobs and into vacant positions at Los Angeles World Airports and the Port of Los Angeles, which have separate budgets that are not affected by plummeting tax revenues.
<\/br>
<\/br>Hahn said she would support reassigning those workers \u201cas long as they could still get a paycheck from the city.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>Villaraigosa said he does not know how many vacant positions are available. But City Controller Wendy Greuel estimated earlier this week that as many as 1,200 people would take early retirement in agencies and positions that are not part of the general fund budget.
<\/br>
<\/br>Meanwhile, Councilman Dennis Zine expressed skepticism about the budget talks, complaining that the estimate of 1,000 job cuts was arbitrary. \u201cI don\u2019t know who came up with the 1,000,\u201d he said this morning, not long after he spoke with one of the city\u2019s top union leaders.
<\/br>
<\/br>Zine was, in fact, one of five council members who signed a Jan. 20 letter calling on Santana to develop a list of \u201cno fewer than 1,000 jobs\u201d that could be eliminated.
<\/br>
<\/br><\/p>\n

— David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall<\/p>\n

Photo: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at a town hall meeting on school reform this week. Credit: Luis Sinco \/ Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The appetite for layoffs may be fading at Los Angeles City Hall, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa saying that other concessions by the city\u2019s workforce could go a long way toward eliminating a nearly $200-million budget shortfall.Standing outside his office, the mayor told reporters this afternoon that the city could address much of the financial crisis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4678,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}