Thursday, February 9, 2017

Los Angeles City Controller Issues (Rhodes Scholar) Mayor Eric Garcetti FAILING GRADE! City budget sinks into un-repaired sinkhole.

Los Angeles City Controller Issues (Rhodes Scholar) Mayor Eric Garcetti FAILING GRADE! City budget sinks into un-repaired sinkhole.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2017
Contacts: Jennifer Rivera
Deborah Hong

City Controller Releases Annual Financial Report: Highlights City’s Ongoing Structural Deficit


Expenditures Growing Faster than Revenue

Los Angeles - City Controller Ron Galperin has released the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal year 2016
Among the financial and budget challenges underscored by Controller Galperin:
  • Expenditures grew more than revenues for the first time since 2012 (under Mayor ERIC GARCETTI), exacerbating the City’s “structural deficit”;*
  • After three years of strong revenue growth, General Fund revenues only increased by 2.3 percent;
  • Personnel costs (salaries, benefits, pensions) continue to drive expenditure increases;
  • New challenges and priorities (homelessness, an aging workforce, technology needs, a possible decline in federal funding) will require significant fiscal discipline from City leaders. (City Hall doesn't have any leaders=see above! Vote Zuma Dogg=Deming 14 Points expert=all about leadership).
“We must be prudent in our spending, and find new revenue sources that will allow the City to be financially stable into the future. If we don’t, we will not be able to consistently deliver the quality services our residents expect and deserve,” stated Controller Galperin.
In 2016, total General Fund revenue was $4.9 billion, an increase of $111 million (2.3 percent) over fiscal year 2015, while General Fund expenditures were $4.7 billion, $225 million (5.1 percent) more than 2015. The City’s reserves are strong, but declined noticeably in 2016, from more than 7 percent in 2015 to just under 6 percent this past July.
The CAFR shows that, for the first time since 2012 (The GARCETTI TERM), General Fund expenditures grew faster than General Fund revenues. Based on current year trends, it looks like this will be true again in 2017. 

Unless the City identifies new and expanded revenue sources and finds ways to curtail spending, Los Angeles’ efforts over the past years toward eliminating its structural deficit while restoring services will be undermined.

In the middle of the great recession, City faced a projected deficit of more than $500 million. Cuts to staff and expenses, paired with relatively strong revenues, reduced the shortfall to less than $100 million in 2015, before increasing at the end of 2016. This annual projected deficit represents what is known as the structural deficit.

The City’s net pension liability, increased by $570 million in 2016, to a total of $8.2 billion, driven largely by investment returns under the assumed level.

In addition to the government-wide financial statements, the CAFR also includes the following:
  • Revenue and expenditure
  • Pension benefits, contributions, actuarial assumptions, and funding ratios for all three City pension systems
  • Net position, fund balances, and tax revenues;
  • Property taxes -- and top taxpayers
  • Debt and debt capacity;
  • Demographic and economic data;
  • Staffing and operating indicators; and
  • Condition ratings for City bridges
The CAFR is the complete record of the City’s finances for the year that just ended. It contains the government-wide financial statements, consistent with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and has been audited by Macias, Gini & O’Connell (MGO), a firm of independent certified public accountants. The full CAFR, Community Financial Report and all Controller audits, open data and more, are available atwww.lacontroller.org.

*A Structural Deficit is a budget deficit that results from a fundamental imbalance in government (yes, Garcetti and City Council are, indeed, fundamentally imbalanced) receipts and expenditures, as opposed to one based on one-off or short-term factors. While the City of Los Angeles ends up each year with a “balanced” budget, this is often accomplished with one-time revenues and with service cuts.
###

LA Mayoral Candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg will appoint Jack Humphreville and Jay Handal as BUDGET HEADS in my administration. I haven't asked them, yet; but, hopefully -- if asked, they will serve.
Phone/Text: 213.785.7272

Greetings, fellow constituents: We have between now and March 07, to raise awareness with the general public -- that there is indeed an election, on March 7th. MAIL-IN BALLOTS ARE OUT, NOW! #ZumaDoggForMayor - #YesOnS 

02.09.17: Greeting from David (Zuma Dogg) about #LAMayor Eric Garcetti: Everything BAD=SKYROCKETED!

#LA VOTER ALERT: @ZumaDogg Issues Urgent Warning re: #LAMayor #EricGarcetti -- and his Soros-backed purposeful destabilization of Los Angeles. WAKE UP, VOTERS! (ZD's rant vs #Garcetti starts at 1:30 into this video.)






MORE VIDEOS








"Legend"/KABC - "Heroic"/KRLA - "Crusader"/Mayor Garcetti - "An LA icon"/LA Weekly - "Stunned and amazed. We've never seen anything like him. Treasure."/LA Times - "Fabulous"/Tony Robbins - "Your, 'Interpreting Deming's 14 Points,' is well done."/Dr. Ed Deming. - "Zuma has been a community activist in Los Angeles for more than 10 years successfully taking on City Hall on numerous occasions."/City Watch LA - "Zuma Dogg fought the oppressive, L.A. Council meetings presided over by Garcetti, who banned video cameras. Mr. Dogg prevailed against Garcetti, and now any member of the public may record the meetings, thanks to him." - LA Weekly: Read what media, business authors and elected officials say about ZD

A FUN way to talk about #LAMayor Election & City Issues w Paul E. Amori

  
Zuma Dogg will implement, "The 14 Points of Quality & Productivity," on Day One, at City Hall. READ the 14 Points, HERE! (Based on #Deming) See video. 
 
 declared a , so my #1 push, as  candidate are THESE affordable homes: Practically indestructible, easily transported and affordable. Each unit is built from new, top quality steel. Link to pictures of some models!   Video testimonials, here.
 
ZUMA DOGG: Comin' straight off the #Venice boardwalk. L.A.'s real-life, "Wayne's World" ("legendary, cable TV superstar/icon"); turned free-speech/political advocate; and WINNER in FEDERAL court vs City of Los Angeles, when L.A. City violated ZD's (and everyone elses') civil rights at Venice Beach boardwalk; and then at the council meetings, during public comment, while addressing these issues. 
VICTORY=MAYORAL CANDIDATE, MR. DOGG: FEDERAL JUDGE RULES Los Angeles City Council Broke U.S. Law in Censorship of The Public. (Council never should have interrupted, cut off, or ejected Dogg, in any of these incidents. Judge called it, "censorship, in violation of the law.)

"The city that silences a critic will injure itself as much as it injures the critic, for the gadfly’s task is to stir into life the massive beast of the city, to rouse each and every one of you, to persuade and reproach you all day long.” - ‎PLATO. The court GRANTS in favor of Plaintiff (Zuma Dogg/Saltsburg) on Rules of Decorum." - Federal Judge Dean D. Pregerson (re: ZD's free speech/First Amendment lawsuit)
Posted by at