Loseraigosa determined to add 1,000 police officers despite economic downturn
by David Zahniser
Photo by Big ZDThe city's $406-million budget shortfall is also a product of two pivotal policy choices made by Villaraigosa since taking office in 2005: adding 1,000 officers to the Los Angeles Police Department and hiking the pay of unionized city workers.
On paper, paying for the new officers looks easy. But hiring so many new officers is much trickier when home sales are flat, sales taxes are down and city employee pay raises have cost nearly $90 million extra with each successive year.
To continue the LAPD expansion in the midst of an economic downturn, Villaraigosa has called for reductions in library hours and supplies, animal shelter hours, park rangers and maintenance, summer recreation workers and arts programs.
Councilman Greig Smith, a Republican who is a reserve police officer, warned that the mayor is trying to hire too many officers too quickly -- a strategy that threatens to create a bigger budget mess by 2011, the year that all the new officers will be on the job.
"We're digging ourselves a hole," said Smith, who sits on the council's Budget and Finance Committee. "And the question is, is the hole so deep that we can't dig ourselves out?"
In the two years since Villaraigosa started the officer-hiring plan, public safety -- police and fire protection -- has grown from 64% of the city's discretionary budget to nearly 70%, according to the city's chief legislative analyst's office. That means the share of all other programs is shrinking.
That fact has not gone unnoticed by advocates for parks, libraries and other services. Some who testified against the budget cuts last week said the Police and Fire departments should not go unscathed when money is scarce.
Kristin Sabo (park volunteer who addressed Council), worried that Villaraigosa was fixated on a particular time frame because progress had been slow on his plans to reform schools and expand public transportation.
As the economy softened, Villaraigosa and the council pushed the monthly trash fees to $26 in only 15 months. When the budget shortfall ballooned, the mayor proposed pushing it above $36 starting Oct. 1.
But we all know you can't believe a word out of Doucharaigosa's mouth unless he is asking for more money for immigrants.
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