Beleaguered Mayor Wields Veto Pen With Light Touch

In a conciliatory message to the City Council that brings one of the city’s least contentious budget debates nearly to an end, Mayor Tom Bradley on Tuesday vetoed just 16 of the dozens of changes made to his record $3.25-billion budget.

The mayor used his line-item veto to restore $9.7 million to 14 of his programs in the fiscal 1989-1990 budget--including the $7-million Pride Lines bus cleanup and rehabilitation program, an office of air quality and the addition of five slots on his personal staff.

The only two mayoral cuts in council additions to the budget came in the Police Department, where Bradley sliced $1.3 million in funds for new police vehicles and $68,044 for a public information director for officer recruitment.

As expected, Bradley used his line-item veto sparingly. Higher-than-expected revenues meant there was more money to go around. And, some city officials believe, the mayor, fighting allegations of conflict of interest and several investigations into his finances, can ill afford major conflicts with the council now.

But Bradley denied at a City Hall press conference that his veto package was limited because of a preoccupation with the controversies over his personal finances.

“That’s absolutely a false perception,” he said, adding that his vetoes are “right in line with what’s taken place with every one of those past budgets.”

The council has five working days to override or accept the mayor’s vetoes, but many City Hall observers believe there will be few, if any, overrides. It takes 10 votes of the 15-member council to overturn a mayoral action.

In all, the council cut just $25 million out of Bradley’s budget while adding about $35 million of its own in new programs. The changes represent less than 2% of the total budget.

Bid for Sound Policy

“I am pleased the City Council agreed with a majority of my budget as originally proposed,” Bradley said. “The changes I made are in the interest of good management and sound public policy.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who as chairman of the council’s Finance and Revenue Committee is the point man on budget matters, said he was encouraged by Bradley’s light touch. “The mayor didn’t question any fundamental decision of the council,” said Yaroslavsky. “The vetoes here are not a surprise; some I even support.”

Yaroslavsky said the major council initiatives--elimination of a proposed rubbish collection fee and establishment of a Department of Environmental Affairs--were left intact because “the mayor saw the writing on the wall” and knew his veto could not withstand an override attempt.

Funds for most of the restored programs will come from the so-called “unappropriated balance,” an account in which the council parks money it plans to spend.

While keeping the veto confrontations to a minimum, the mayor used his budget message to admonish the council for making reductions that are “illusory.” For example, the council cut $5.5 million in salary increases, on the theory that the funds would be available because of routine job vacancies.

Effect on Police

The budgetary sleight-of-hand is bad management, the mayor said. “For example, deleting $1.8 million in . . . funding needed by the police will require the department to either hold vacant 44 police officer positions or delay the hiring of each recruit class by an average of three weeks,” Bradley said. “Clearly this would be foolish when we are trying to strengthen our police force.”

But the mayor’s ability to restore those funds to the budget was hampered by the need to find $27 million to fund his garbage recycling program. The mayor proposed the program two days after he submitted his initial budget proposal, and left it up to the council to find a way to pay for it.

Mayoral aides privately said they wanted the pay raise funds restored to the budget, but were unable to persuade the mayor.

MAYOR’S BUDGET CHANGES Here are the $9.7 million in programs Mayor Tom Bradley restored to the 1989-1990 budget:

1. Office of Air Quality: $250,000 for air quality studies, $360,056 for the hazardous materials division and $44,088 for the Board of Environmental Quality Commission.

2. L.A. Pride Lines transit program: $7 million.

3. Peak-hour truck management program: $456,229.

4. Recycling coordinator: $116,950.

5. Street tree inventory: $500,000.

6. Automated records management program: $191,766.

7. Human Relations Commission: $71,399

8. Suggestion award program: $40,263.

9. Staff additions for Department of General Services: $145,074.

10. Traffic information program: $116,338.

11. Clerical position for Department of Aging: $26,836.

12. Five new positions on mayor’s staff: $287,765.

13. Serving as host of American Society for Public Administration convention: $15,000

14. Department of Transportation expenses: $76,836.

Here are the $1.3 million in programs Bradley cut from the budget:

1. One-half of the funds allocated for new vehicles for narcotics detectives: $500,000 from police budget and $700,000 from General Services.

2. Public information director for police recruitment: $68,044.