Moratorium Imposed on DWP Tours : Expenses: Bradley says fiscal responsibility ‘should be of paramount importance.’ The program has cost nearly : $1 million in the past year.

Mayor Tom Bradley on Friday imposed an immediate moratorium on a Department of Water and Power tour program that has cost nearly $1 million in the past year.

With stiff budget restraints at other agencies and a costly water-rationing plan under consideration at the DWP, Bradley said, “It is a time when fiscal responsibility should be of paramount importance. . . . Exorbitant expenditures undermine the public’s confidence.”

Bradley issued the order in response to a Times story Friday detailing a $913,000 tour program in which legislators, business customers and department executives received all-expenses-paid tours of DWP facilities throughout the West. Department officials say the tours are necessary to update officials on the utility’s needs and plans.

In a letter to the DWP Board of Commissioners, Bradley ordered a report on the necessity of such trips and added, “If some prove absolutely essential, I want an outline as to the less expensive modes of travel, boarding and cost of meals.”

The mayor, in criticizing DWP expense policies for the second time in a week, said, “Lodging in first-rate hotels and chartered flights clearly are an unneeded perk.”

On Monday, Bradley chastised the utility for chartering private jets when cheaper commercial flights were available. The mayor demanded tough new travel restrictions and ordered commissioners “to take immediate action to prevent a recurrence” of controversial expenditures such as a $95-a-head meal for five officials in Salt Lake City and a $2,800 charter jet flight that DWP General Manager Norm Nichols took to Sacramento.

On Monday, Bradley said he wanted the Board of Commissioners to approve all major travel expenditures in advance.

The mayor said that action, combined with the moratorium ordered Friday, “will hopefully rebuild the confidence I fear has been eroded” at the giant city-owned utility.

City Council members on Friday also were quick to react to reports of the DWP’s unusually extensive and costly tour program.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter filed a motion calling for a similar report on tour expenditures. Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores suggested that money saved from halting the program could be used to offset rate increases.

In her motion, Galanter said, “While trips to remote facilities can be a valuable tool, expensive dinners and lavish accommodations do not necessarily pay equivalent dividends.” Galanter, who like most city elected officials has attended DWP tours, said it was “very educational.”

Flores also acknowledged that the tours were valuable but added, “Sometimes the department becomes overzealous.”

While supporting the mayor’s call for a moratorium, she said, “It’s a shame that the mayor’s office has not been aware (of the tour cost) and had to wait for the newspapers to uncover it.”

Rick Caruso, president of the DWP Board of Commissioners, said he would put the mayor’s demands on the board’s next meeting agenda, but otherwise had no comment on Bradley’s action.

Earlier, Caruso said, “It’s important for government officials, bankers and environmental groups to see these places and understand what’s going on and what’s involved in bringing water and power to Los Angeles.”

DWP officials said that as a result of the mayor’s order, all tours have been cancelled, including two bus tours scheduled next week to the Owens Valley. One tour was for a group of Los Angeles teachers and another for Museum of Science and Industry docents.

“It’s really a shame,” said DWP spokeswoman Dorothy Jensen.