LOS ANGELES COUNTY : District Attorney Says He Can Avert Layoffs for Now

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti on Friday made public a cost-saving plan that he said will temporarily avert layoffs of deputy prosecutors and enable him to continue to prosecute all kinds of crime for the time being.

Garcetti also said he would strongly support voter approval in November of the extension of a half-cent sales tax whose revenues could be used to bring his office and other law enforcement agencies up to last year’s spending levels.

The county prosecutor had said that if his budget was cut $16 million, as it was last month, he would be forced to lay off up to 180 deputies and stop prosecuting misdemeanors. But under his current plan, 34 deputies would be reassigned to units that are financed with federal and state money at a savings to the county of $3.1 million. Another $2 million would be saved through increasing revenue and cutbacks on spending.

In a memo to his staff and a letter to county officials, Garcetti emphasized that if another $7.5 million is not forthcoming for his office in the months ahead, he may yet have to order layoffs or resort to prosecuting only felonies.