Council Members May Authorize Donations
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to save time and money by allowing individual members to approve hundreds of small donations to community groups rather than requiring that each one come to a vote.
The council as a whole now approves more than 500 motions a year authorizing small donations--mostly less than $500 each--for community groups.
Until now, rules required that each expenditure be approved by the full council--a process that the mayor’s office estimates costs $3,000 for every action.
Under the new rules, individual council members will also be empowered to waive city fees so that community organizations can hang banners from street light poles.
“Today’s council action,” said City Council President John Ferraro, “will move us forward in my goal to streamline the council agenda--free us of some administrative details that can and should be handled elsewhere--and permit more time for deliberations on more substantive issues, the real responsibility of the city council.”
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