Running Up the Taxpayers’ Phone Bill

If you live in Los Angeles and can’t afford the luxury of a cellular phone, don’t worry about it. You’re already paying for more than 3,000 of them.

At a time when local government coffers are sapped, taxpayers unknowingly are doling out millions of dollars each year for cellular calls made by thousands of city and county employees, a Times study has found.

Once restricted to the upper reaches of government, cellular phones are now being distributed deep into the bureaucracy--with scant oversight of the bills.

As Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Ellen Stein put it: “There is a Pandora’s box here that needs to be opened.”

In the last fiscal year alone, cellular costs for the city and county rose about 60%, to a projected cost of roughly $3 million a year. Some departments recorded increases of more than 400%, according to documents obtained through the state Public Records Act.

Nowhere in the nation do cellular charges by government workers consume a bigger chunk of public monies than in Los Angeles--despite the severe budget crises that have plagued the city and county in recent years. Los Angeles also apparently stands alone as the only major metropolis not to have imposed restrictions as a way to curtail costs and abuses.

Because Los Angeles officials for years have failed to audit cellular bills, it is anyone’s guess as to how many unnecessary business calls or unreimbursed personal calls have been subsidized by the public.

But one indication may be found in what happened after The Times began inquiring about the high cost of the phones in May: As word spread, bills in most county departments fell by more than 50%.

In addition, at least one county employee, a social worker for children services, was disciplined in the wake of The Times’ inquiry about the department’s cellular bills. Her monthly bills exceeded $400 in early 1995 and a department probe showed that she had been making personal calls without reimbursing the county. She was ordered to repay the money.

Some officials suspect that if the entire system were scrutinized, similar abuses might surface.

“There’s got to be a better way to do this,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who said he will seek a council probe of cell phone use by city employees.

The Times study was based on tens of thousands of pages of bills detailing monthly charges for each of the more than 3,000 cellular phones used by the city and county. In some cases, the record-keeping was in such disarray that officials were unable to locate bills or even figure out who was piling up tens of thousands of dollars in charges on scores of phones.

Despite repeated requests, lawyers for the city and county refused to provide telephone numbers being dialed by government workers so that the newspaper could determine independently whether abuses were occurring.

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Documents supplied for most county departments span from January 1993 to March 1995. City officials, for their part, released records covering a six-month period last year--with the exception of the departments of water and power, and airports and harbor, for which more comprehensive files were provided.

Among other things, the records reveal little connection between the heft of one’s responsibilities and the size of the bill.

Sally Reed, who is Los Angeles County’s chief administrative officer, has one of the biggest jobs in town. Her monthly cell phone bill averaged a relatively modest $110 on her main phone and $41 on her backup.

“I use it only when I need to,” she said of her phone. “When it makes sense.”

Meanwhile, a few blocks away at City Hall is Adolfo Nodal, head of the city’s cultural affairs department. His monthly tab averages $685, nearly five times that of Reed. “I guess it does add up, doesn’t it?” said Nodal, whose staff has been slashed because of budget shortfalls. “I need to start looking at my bills more.”

Here are a few other notable findings culled from documents and interviews:

* More than 600 city and county workers had monthly bills averaging more than $100. By comparison, the average cellular bill in the United States as of June was $52.45, according to the Cellular Telephone Industry Assn.

* More than 1,200 city and county employees ran up single-month bills of more than $300. Among the highest: $4,387 on a Sheriff’s Department phone, $2,324 on a phone in the county’s internal services department and $2,049 on a cellular in the city’s Department of Water and Power.

* Because of communication foul-ups in the bureaucracy, the county continued to pay bills--for as long as three years--on phones that were supposed to have been disconnected.

* The county and city did not take advantage of cut-rate cellular charges for governments that sign annual contracts, according to their primary phone company, AirTouch--a move that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars. Monthly fees were also paid on scores of emergency phones gathering dust in storage. Most major U.S. cities and counties cut deals with their carriers to pay only if the phones are used. A key Los Angeles county official said he was unaware of a cheaper rate, and the city said it did not want to be locked into an annual contract with penalties for withdrawing.

There is little debate that in both the private and public sectors, cellular phones can be cost-effective in allowing employees to work while traveling the vast region. For government employees assigned to dangerous areas, the phones can be a safety net.

Law enforcement officers and firefighters, whose bills rank among the highest, say the phones have revolutionized their work, allowing them to respond quickly to disasters and emergencies. Police say that cellular phones have become indispensable for undercover work, a fact reflected in monthly bills that run as high as $4,000 for a phone assigned to detectives in the Sheriff’s Department.

No matter what their station in government, cellular users have come to view the phones as the technological future.

“Why am I not using a typewriter instead of a computer?” said County Librarian Sandra F. Reuben. “Well, the world has changed. . . . It’s a worthy investment in this day and age with fewer and fewer people. It keeps us productive.”

But in Los Angeles, unlike in other major cities, that lofty principle packs an especially lofty price.

In New York City, government employees collectively spent $625 an hour during every workday of the last fiscal year on cellular phone charges. Here, city and county workers spent about twice that much--roughly $1,400 every hour of every workday.

What’s more, New York officials flag all bills over $80 a month. Not in Los Angeles, where employees are simply trusted to use their phones professionally and judiciously. Here, at least 180 government workers averaged more than $200 a month, some as high as $700.

Clamping down on cellular phone costs is important if for no other reason than the appearance of fiscal prudence, said Vincent A. Padula of New York City’s Department of Information Technologies.

“The public perception is, ‘You’re cutting school lunches and you’ve all got cell phones,’ ” he said. “That doesn’t sit well.”

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Theoretically, government employees in Los Angeles are supposed to scrutinize their bills each month and pay for their personal calls. In practice, the system is flawed.

How, for example, can employees reimburse taxpayers when they are not even given copies of their bills?

Take the county’s Public Health Department, where employees had not been shown records of their calls for more than two years, a practice that changed after The Times raised questions about it.

When the back bills finally arrived in June, “there were a number of personal calls that were obvious, not only for myself but for others as well,” said Richard Hanson, chief of solid waste management programs.

“I think some people, when they didn’t receive their bills for a long time, they thought, ‘Well, I’ll just call whoever I want.’ ”

Still, only a quarter of the department’s 100 cellular users acknowledged making any personal calls during the 30 months’ worth of bills. “I have to believe [them] because I have no proof to the contrary,” said William H. Mitchell, acting administrative deputy for public health services and programs.

Although the money spent on cellular phones could not begin to restore Los Angeles’ fiscal health, the lax oversight raises questions about whether politicians and bureaucrats are being appropriately vigilant with dwindling tax dollars.

Consider the way cellular phones have been handled in two county departments rocked by budget problems--the public libraries and the health system.

At the county’s Department of Health Services, which was forced to close clinics for the poor and lay off thousands of workers, more than 300 employees have cellular phones, from social workers to hospital administrators.

Each month, tens of thousands of dollars are spent exclusively on cell phones. While some divisions within the sprawling agency have relatively small bills, others spend freely.

“I do have concerns,” conceded health services spokeswoman Toby Staheli. “I think there’s been a lack of monitoring. Somebody fell down on the job.”

Meanwhile, in the hard-pressed county library department--where closures have been threatened and funds for books have shrunk--eight employees had cell phones. During the first nine months of the last fiscal year, they spent about $15,000 on calls.

David Flint, assistant director for finance and planning, consistently talked the most--an average of close to $300 a month.

He insisted in an interview that he is “judicious” and “efficient” with his cellular phone and resented being questioned about the matter. “We live in a time when the public thinks it’s OK to treat public employees disrespectfully,” he said.

Flint did say that he primarily uses the phone during his commute Downtown from Orange County and while he is on the road during the workday. Asked how he performed his job before the cellular age, Flint replied: “I would say I was probably less productive, to be honest.”

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Like Flint, a number of big spenders cited their long commutes as being largely to blame for their high bills.

Gregory Nelson, who is Councilman Joel Wachs’ chief deputy, commutes 50 miles each way from his Mission Viejo home. Along the way, he compiled an average monthly bill of $553, ranking him among the highest cellular users in city and county government.

“It was inevitable that someone was going to do a story like this,” sighed Nelson, when asked about his calls.

He estimated that he uses his phone about two hours a day while commuting to work. He said he talks to city staffers, constituents and contacts around the county.

“I know the test I put myself through every time I make a phone call,” he said. “ ‘Is there a better way for me to get done what I have to get done than to dial this phone right now?’ But are other people doing the same? I would hope they are. But I know that probably isn’t true.”

Morrie Goldman, who is Councilman Mike Hernandez’s chief of staff, is roughly in the same league as Nelson, logging monthly averages of $490. He had this to say when told that his bills ranked among the highest: “Me?”

Admittedly rattled by the news, Goldman said that during his hourlong commute, “I’ll get involved in conversations with someone and I’m home.”

He described his phone as “an important instrument” to serve the community, but he conceded that an annual bill of around $6,000 seems a bit much.

“I’m certainly going to be more aware of it,” he said. “All this stuff merits question. When you don’t question it, that’s when abuses come in.”

*

Fred Ohlrich, administrator for Los Angeles Municipal Court, said he also spends a lot of time on the road--and on the phone. In March 1994, he conversed for a total of $706.

“I have to take responsibility for that,” Ohlrich said after reviewing the bill. “I consider that a lot of money. I mean, this is a tool, but you’ve got to look at it and look at how it is used, because the public will look and see. That is a lot of money.”

Estimating that he spends from two to four hours in his car each day commuting and driving to the numerous offices he oversees, Ohlrich said his cellular phone is indispensable and perhaps too convenient. “If it’s there,” he said, “you do tend to use it.”

And that, critics say, is the problem. While acknowledging the technological benefits, they worry that having so many phones in so many hands--with somebody else picking up the tab--makes them ripe for wastefulness or outright abuse.

“Let’s face it,” county Children Services Supervisor Eladio Sainz said from his cell phone, “people are people . . . and the phones are easy to use.”

Sainz said audits undertaken by his division not only turned up the social worker who had been making personal calls but also two employees who were using phones on their days off. All of them, he said, have had their cellular privileges restricted.

*

Like other departments within local government, the children services group has some phones that are shared among employees. Although these so-called pool phones account for some of the steepest monthly bills, there is even less accountability for them because they are not attached to a specific name.

Sainz said he had no clue who was responsible for racking up a bill of $904 in January 1995 on one of his division’s pool phones.

One of the biggest one-month bills for a pool phone was compiled in January 1992 by workers within a division of the county’s Internal Services Department. The cost to taxpayers: $2,324.

Internal Services Director William F. Stewart said the phone was used by many people working in the field who have now been given substantially cheaper two-way radios. Acknowledging that his department has some costly bills, Stewart said: “I have taken a look at individual charges and asked the staff to look into incidences of whether it needs to be that high.”

Coming in closely behind Stewart’s employees were workers in the city’s Department of Water and Power, who compiled a bill of $2,049 in May 1994 on a pool phone.

In a written statement, the DWP said the phone was used by a crew in a remote desert where there was no other method of communication.

The DWP said it later changed the area code on the phone from Los Angeles to Nevada. That easy solution resulted in an immediate $200-a-month savings. Asked why such a change was not made earlier, DWP spokeswoman Sandra Tanaka said: “I can’t answer that.”

Although many cell phone users and department heads argued that certain jobs justified higher cellular bills, city and county records showed widely varying tabs even among those who had the same duties.

That finding suggests that, all things being equal, there exists discretion in the use of cellular phones that users are reluctant to acknowledge.

“I think it just may come down to style,” said one longtime county official.

From January to November 1993, High Desert Hospital Administrator Gene Olea spent $384 a month on his cell phone. His successor, Roy Fleischman, averaged $73 a month during his tenure from December 1993 to May 1995. Neither works for the hospital anymore and could not be reached for comment. Current Administrator William Fujioka estimated he spends $40 to $50 a month on his cellular phone.

As Los Angeles Municipal Court presiding judge in 1993, Aviva Bobb spent an average of $291 a month on her phone. Carrying out the same duties in 1994 and 1995, Judge Alban I. Niles spent less than half as much--$112 a month.

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Through Los Angeles Municipal Court spokeswoman Marcia Skolnik, Bobb said her bills were higher than normal in 1993 because the court was undergoing a major reorganization. But Niles held the post in 1994 when the same reorganization project was still going on.

Among elected and appointed officials, similar disparities occurred.

City Harbor Commissioners Carol Rowen and Frank M. Sanchez averaged $281 and $249 a month respectively. But two colleagues, Leland Wong and Jonathan Y. Thomas, spent nothing, rejecting the phones because of the expense. The other commissioner, Lee M. Anderson, averaged $47 a month.

A harbor department spokeswoman indicated that Rowen and Sanchez “would be unavailable for comment.” The spokeswoman speculated that some commissioners may have been involved in special projects while others were not.

“Everybody is given the opportunity to have a cellular phone,” spokeswoman Barbara Yamamoto said. “Some take us up on it and some don’t.”

Multimillionaire Mayor Richard Riordan, who takes only $1 a year for his city salary, apparently can afford to pay for his own calls, too. Records show that he does not have a city cellular phone.

But Police Chief Willie L. Williams does--two of them. Between July and October 1995, Williams averaged $432 a month for the two phones combined, records show.

*

Of the 15 members of the Los Angeles City Council, Richard Alatorre had the highest monthly average, $693, while Hal Bernson had the lowest, $58. Bernson’s single-highest monthly cellular telephone bill between June and November 1995: $128. Alatorre’s: $824.

Through press deputy Leila Cobo-Hanlon, Alatorre said he has numerous responsibilities that require him to use a cellular phone while out of the office. Those duties, Cobo-Hanlon said, include the councilman being a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board and chairman of the city’s Budget and Finance Committee.

A close second to Alatorre was Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose monthly average was $645. His highest bill: $852.

Ridley-Thomas said he didn’t know why his bill was high. “Maybe I’m a lot more active than the other offices. On the other hand, maybe I spend too much time conversing on the phone, who knows,” he said.

Among the Board of Supervisors, former Supervisor Ed Edelman had the highest monthly cell phone bill until the time he left in December 1994: $424 a month. With Edelman out of the picture, Supervisor Mike Antonovich’s $354-a-month bill was the highest, while Supervisor Deane Dana had the lowest at $142 a month.

Almost every facet of cellular phone use in Los Angeles city and county government--from the size of the bills to the lack of oversight--stands in sharp contrast to other major metropolitan areas.

To keep cellular costs at bay in Miami, for example, officials are instituting an allowance system for its 156 publicly paid cellular phones.

Depending on an employee’s or official’s job, he or she is permitted to spend $100, $200 or, at most, $300 a month on calls. The limits do not apply to law enforcement personnel.

“We’ve studied it and we think that $300 is a reasonable amount to spend on business calls,” said Ronald E. Williams, assistant city manager for Miami. “It’s an issue for everyone . . . especially when it’s taxpayer money.”

*

In New York City, Padula, of the information technologies department, said the city is trying to “wean” officials from using the phones for day-to-day tasks.

“We figured out, from a productivity standpoint, $80 to $85 a month is reasonable,” he said. “Any more than that and you’re spending too much time on the phone and not enough on work.”

In Chicago, monthly bills of more than $100 draw additional scrutiny, said Robert Schrempel, the city’s Freedom of Information Act officer.

Over the last two years, the city has attempted to restrict use of cellular phones to emergency personnel and “hands-on department managers,” Schrempel said.

“We recently handled a public information request here for cell phone bills,” Schrempel said. “The highest was $150 a month, and he was considered a hands-on guy.”

In Baltimore, officials have begun to rely heavily on two-way radios and pagers, said Rochelle Young, the city’s director of telecommunications.

Mindful of costs, the city restricts its cellular phones to the “elite,” Young said. “Do we give cellulars to library officials? No. What would they need a cellular phone for?”

Next: Breakdowns in the monitoring system.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

DIALING FOR DOLLARS: HOW IT WORKS

Unlike your desk phone, which is wired into a telephone network, a cellular phone uses the airwaves through a two-way radio link.

The term “cellular” comes from the geographical areas, or cells, of the system’s network. Each cell covers a certain geographical area and has its own radio transmitter. As cell phone users move from site to site, the system automatically switches signals from cell to cell.

“I guess it does add up, doesn’t it? I need to start looking at my bill more.”

--Adolfo Nodal, head of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department

MONTHLY AVERAGE: $685

“Maybe I’m a lot more active than the other offices. On the other hand, maybe I spend too much time conversing on the phone, who knows?”

--City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas

MONTHLY AVERAGE: $645

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Look Who’s Talking

With more than 3,000 cellular phones distributed throughout Los Angeles city and county government, the public is paying some big bills. During a months-long study, The Times obtained thousands upon thousands of phone records to determine who in government is racking up the highest monthly averages. In some cases, because of poor record keeping, the names of people using certain phones could not be provided. Here, based on the city and county’s best records, are the top talkers.

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Caller: Unknown

Where they work: Poor record-keeping makes it impossible to determine which department had the the phone at the time of publication.

Monthly Avg.: $746

What they say: City’s Information Technology Agency is investigating.

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Caller: Richard Alatorre

Where they work: Councilman

Monthly Avg.:$693

What they say: Attributed the bill to his extra duties including being an MTA board member.

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Caller:Adolfo Nodal

Where they work: City’s CulturaL Affairs/General Mgr

Monthly Avg.: $685

What they say: On the road a lot. Works many weekends.

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Caller: Mary Leslie

Where they work: Mayor’s Office/Deputy Mayor

Monthly Avg.: $672

What they say: Reimbursed city for $600 in personal calls. Recently left city staff.

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Caller: Mark Ridley-Thomas

Where they work: Councilman

Monthly Avg.: $645

What they say: Surmised that he could have heavy workload and wondered aloud if he may be conversing too much.

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Caller: Jan Perry

Where they work: Councilwoman Rita Walters’ Office/Chief Deputy

Monthly Avg.: $560

What they say: Declined comment.

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Caller: Pool phone

Where they work: DWP

Monthly Avg.: $559

What they say: Multiple users; used at remote site.

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Caller: Gregory Nelson

Where they work: Councilman Joel Wachs’ Office/Chief Deputy

Monthly Avg.: $553

What they say: Frequent communication with sources on East Coast.

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Caller: Morie Goldman

Where they work: Councilman Mike Hernandez’s Office/Chief of staff

Monthly Avg.: $490

What they say: Supervises two offices; busier than most districts.

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Caller: Tim R. Aguilar

Where they work: Compton Municipal Court/Administrator

Monthly Avg.: $488

What they say: Declined to comment other than saying phone use was legitimate

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Caller: Lillian Y. Kawasaki

Where they work: City’s Environmental Affairs/General Manager

Monthly Avg.: $454

What they say: On road four or five hours a day. Does not have an assistant general manager like many departments.

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Caller: Unknown

Where they work: Poor record-keeping made it impossible to determine what department had the phone at the time of publication.

Monthly Avg.: $451

What they say: City’s Information Technology Agency is investigating.

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Caller: Nate Holden

Where they work: Councilman

Monthly Avg.: $429

What they say: Gets a lot done on the phone.

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Caller: G. Pete Digre

Where they work: County Children Services/Director

Monthly Avg.: $427

What they say: Oversees one of county’s largest departments.

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Caller: Pool phone

Where they work: County Children Services/emergency response workers

Monthly Avg.: $417

What they say: Used by multiple workers.

Vital Statistics

Here are the Los Angeles City Council members and county supervisors with the highest and lowest average monthly cellular phone bills.

High council member:

Richard Alatorre

Monthly average: $693

Highest monthly bill: $824

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Low council member:

Hal Bernson

Monthly average: $58

Highest monthly bill: $128

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High supervisor:

Mike Antonovich

Monthly average: $354

Highest monthly bill: $533

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Low supervisor:

Deane Dana

Monthly average: $142

Highest monthly bill: $212