Tuite Pay Fight May End in Court : City government: The former CRA head says he earned his $1.7-million retirement package. The council’s Yaroslavsky says he’ll fight it.

The fight over the $1.7-million retirement package promised to John Tuite, the former head of the Community Redevelopment Agency, erupted in dueling press conferences Tuesday, with Tuite saying he deserves the money and Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky vowing to fight the payout in the council today.

Both said they were prepared to go to court over the matter.

“A commitment is a commitment,” Tuite said. “The money at issue is my pension. I negotiated for it, I worked for it, I earned it.”

Not so, countered Yaroslavsky, who as chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee is the council’s fiscal watchdog.

“John Tuite came to work for the city for four years and he walked away with a pension that is bigger than I’m ever going to have if I stay here for 30 years,” Yaroslavsky said. “I think this is one worth fighting. Sometimes it’s important for the elected officials of this city . . . to take to the fight.”

Tuite, 58, headed the huge urban renewal agency for four years until he was pressured into retirement last December. Critics complained that the CRA had focused too much on downtown redevelopment and had neglected the interests of homeowners, small businesses and the homeless.

Last Dec. 28, the agency’s board of directors voted to approve a $1.7-million buyout for Tuite in exchange for his stepping down 18 months before his contract expired.

But the deal, which was negotiated largely in closed sessions, infuriated council members, who found they had no authority to overrule the CRA board.

Tuite was paid $433,000 plus $39,000 in vacation pay when the agreement was signed, and was to have received the remainder in a lump sum by June 30.

But by that date, the agency found it had exceeded its budget and was forced to go to the council for permission to transfer money from another fund, for the first time giving the council jurisdiction over the matter. A vote is scheduled today.

“I will not vote to appropriate money for John Tuite’s severance pay,” Yaroslavsky said. “I will not do it. I don’t have to do it. If a judge wants to make me do it, that’s a different story.”

Tuite’s attorney, Gloria Allred, said she will not budge on her demand for the money and will file a lawsuit against the city if the council does not appropriate the money for Tuite today.