1,300 Layoffs, Wage Freeze Seen for L.A : Finance: Need to offset a projected $190-million deficit is expected to affect police, fire, library, park and street maintenance services.

With economic forecasts presenting an increasingly grim picture, City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie said Friday that Los Angeles may need to lay off 1,300 municipal employees next fiscal year and freeze all salaries to counter a projected record deficit of $190 million.

“Very severe operating problems and severe reductions (in services) would result from such cuts,” Comrie wrote in a report delivered Friday to Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council.

Budget cuts to solve the deficit would probably require reductions in police and fire services and library and park hours, Comrie said. Los Angeles streets would have more potholes and the trees along them would be less frequently trimmed, he predicted.

The layoffs--the first widespread dismissals at City Hall in decades--would be in addition to 2,000 positions held vacant in a continuing hiring freeze. The combined proposed staff reductions of about 3,300 positions equal the entire Fire Department staff and exceed the entire work force of departments such as sanitation and transportation.

The effects of the 19-month recession are taking an increasing toll on the current year’s budget too, Comrie said.

Based on the latest tax receipts, Comrie estimated that the deficit this fiscal year--which ends June 30--has grown $42 million, to about $100 million.

And the city’s Reserve Fund, an account established to handle emergencies, has dwindled to $99,000--a pittance compared to the $10 million to $15 million that is customary at this point in the fiscal year, according to Comrie. The fund has been emptied by a large number of successful lawsuits against the city, including many that involved police abuses.

Some city officials said the deficit is being understated and will grow much deeper.

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the Finance and Revenue Committee, said the deficit could grow an additional $30 million when business tax receipts are counted in March.

Comrie acknowledged that that is possible, but said he is sticking to middle-of-the-road projections, rather than worst-case forecasts.

Most of the budget deficit has been caused by revenues falling short of projections. In the last several months, sales tax receipts were short $17 million, real estate transfer taxes $14 million, building and safety permits $5 million and state motor vehicle license fees $3 million. In addition, there were smaller takes in other taxes and fees.

To patch up the budget, Comrie is recommending that the mayor and council approve a series of interdepartmental transfers--stripping funds from some departments and redistributing them to others in immediate need.

Through the hiring freeze and cancellation of building projects, savings have been created in virtually every department, including $1 million in building and safety, $1.5 million in general services and $412,000 in transportation.

But the biggest savings have been in the Police Department.

Comrie is recommending, for instance, that $3 million be taken from Police Department salary accounts that have surpluses because of the hiring freeze.

The Police Department was ordered in November to halt all new academy classes until the freeze is lifted. By the end of the current fiscal year, staffing of sworn officers could fall to 8,050 positions, from the originally budgeted force of 8,332, officials said.

Commander Robert Gil said that if the hiring freeze continues well into next fiscal year, training officers at the academy may be reassigned to field positions.

The city now employs about 30,000 workers, down from a high of about 32,000 two years ago. Officials with the unions that represent city workers could not be reached Friday to comment on Comrie’s report.

Earlier, labor officials said they plan to do their talking at the bargaining table. Contracts for virtually all unionized employees expire June 30.

A spokesman for Bradley said: “This recession is shaping up as the worst the city has faced in at least the last 20 years. Mayor Bradley is firmly committed to balancing the city budget without raising taxes.”