City Misses Payday for Its Employees
Payday came and went at Hawaiian Gardens City Hall on Thursday without a single city employee receiving a paycheck.
Interim city administrator Jack Simpson said city coffers have only $20,000--far short of the $150,000 needed to pay about 100 employees.
City officials remained cautiously optimistic that a check to cover payroll would arrive today from a charitable foundation set up by Irving Moskowitz, who operates the city’s bingo parlor.
Meanwhile, layoffs for at least 20 city staffers are pending, and the City Council is making plans to dissolve the city’s 2 1/2-year-old police force.
The city of 14,000 nearly missed its payroll two weeks ago, but received a $95,000 check from Moskowitz at the last moment. His foundation, which had been supporting city operations with $200,000 a month, cut off the payments in July, citing concerns that the city was misusing the money.
Hawaiian Gardens still has no budget for this fiscal year. City officials met recently with a bankruptcy attorney to explore options, but decided they had not explored all available cost-cutting alternatives.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
