With the city\u00a0facing a $212-million shortfall, Controller Wendy Greuel called on City Council members Wednesday to give up their discretionary funds from the sale of city properties to help rebuild shrinking reserves. <\/p>\n
Greuel\u2019s audit of the so-called real property trust funds found that over the last 12 years, property sales and fees have generated almost $25 million for council offices to use as they please. More than a quarter of that money was collected in the last five years from franchise fees for miles of pipelines that run under city streets. <\/p>\n
Last week, the city\u2019s budget analysts identified nearly $40 million in a series of off-budget accounts controlled by the City Council, including almost $10.7 million remaining in the real property trusts. A Times story detailing the discretionary accounts showed many council members used some of the money to cushion their offices\u2019 salary<\/a> budgets. <\/p>\n Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who ordered the elimination of 1,000 city jobs last week, has asked the council to loan $40 million from those accounts to replenish the city\u2019s reserves, which could be nearly drained by this summer. But even a loan could require the council to change the laws that created the trusts, council aides say. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n In years past when a city property was sold, half the proceeds\u00a0went into the discretionary accounts controlled by the council member who has that property in his or her district. The other half\u00a0went\u00a0into the general fund, which pays basic services such as police, libraries and parks. Venice has a special policy to ensure that the full proceeds from sales in that area are used for Venice projects and programs. <\/p>\n As a council member representing the San Fernando Valley, Greuel sponsored legislation to divert the full proceeds from property sales to the general fund for two years.\u00a0The temporary\u00a0change will expire in June. On Wednesday, the controller urged\u00a0council members\u00a0to make the change permanent.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cIt simply does not make sense that properties are acquired using money from the general fund, yet when they are sold they go directly to particular districts and doesn\u2019t benefit the entire city,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is much-needed money for balancing our city\u2019s budget deficit,\u201d Greuel added. \u201cEveryone is going to need to sacrifice to help solve our current fiscal crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n The controller\u2019s office said the city is\u00a0negotiating property sales that could total $7 million this year. Auditors identified an additional 12 unused city properties, including libraries, animal shelters and fire stations, which they said could generate an additional $15 million if the council agreed to sell them. <\/p>\n — Maeve Reston at Los Angeles City Hall <\/p>\n twitter.com\/LATimesReston<\/p>\n RELATED:<\/strong><\/p>\n Villaraigosa sets sights on City Council’s pet projects funds<\/a><\/p>\n L.A. mayor visits City Council to urge quick action on budget<\/a><\/p>\n L.A. mayor orders elimination of 1,000 city jobs<\/a><\/p>\n \nMore breaking news in L.A. Now:<\/strong><\/p>\n Illegal immigrant population in U.S. plummets, according to a new report<\/a><\/p>\n AP test results show California students doing better, but fewer are taking the tests<\/a><\/p>\n Manhattan Beach man arrested after offering cash for urine in school bathroom<\/a><\/p>\n Snow packs a punch in Southern California mountains<\/a><\/p>\n