Riordan Budget Faces Tough Scrutiny, but Taps Popular Themes

Though Mayor Richard Riordan optimistically predicts that the City Council “will go for 98%” of his proposed budget, lawmakers and top city officials said Tuesday that they have some concerns about the mayor’s spending plan, which they will scrutinize over the next few weeks.

Overall, though, the mayor appears to have hit the traditional areas of council concern: public safety--including the hiring of 157 police officers and 126 firefighters--and such neighborhood preoccupations as tree-trimming, library hours, street repaving and after-school programs.

“I think there’s a lot to like in this budget,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, who is a member of the council’s five-member budget committee. “The jury is still out, but I’m hopeful we can do this in a collaborative fashion . . . to get needed services to our neighborhoods.”

But Feuer and others also said the budget will be thoroughly analyzed to determine whether city departments’ needs will be met and whether the mayor is taking financial risks.

Councilwoman Rita Walters, perhaps Riordan’s harshest critic and a member of the budget committee, said that she is concerned about using one-time funds to pay for ongoing salaries and expenses and about whether the Police Department’s budget will take “an ever-increasing amount of the general fund.”

Riordan, who has made public safety a top priority in his administration, said that the city remains under-policed and that he believes the council should agree to hire more officers despite dramatic declines in crime.

“Although crime is down in our city, we cannot be satisfied until every Angeleno feels safe in their neighborhood and where they work,” Riordan said at a morning news conference Tuesday. “In too many parts of the city, people do not feel safe.”

Using a federal grant that has helped the city boost the police force by 1,353 officers since 1996-97, Riordan proposes to pay for 88 patrol officers, 25 sergeants and a few detectives. But council members have raised concerns about the city’s ability to maintain the large numbers of police once federal support ends.

Deputy Mayor Jennifer Roth, who briefed reporters on the mayor’s $2.8-billion general fund budget, said the council should not be concerned about using grant money for hiring.

“We don’t believe it is compromising anything else in the city,” she said. “In fact, it is enhancing the quality of life citywide.”

Although the Police Department agrees with the number of officers proposed, department spokesman Cmdr. Dave Kalish said police officials are concerned about the actual positions those officers would hold. In addition, he said the department also needs to evaluate the amount of overtime included in the budget.

“There will be a thorough analysis,” he said.

In the Fire Department, Deputy Chief John Ware said the department had asked for about $8 million for new firetrucks but was budgeted at about half that.

The department received funding to replace one helicopter and outdated breathing equipment, a major relief for the department, which has been underfunded in recent years.

“I don’t think we got everything we asked for but it sounds like . . . we’re getting a little bit of everything we wanted,” Ware said.

The city attorney’s office took the same approach.

“This is a good start,” said Matt Middlebrook, the city attorney’s chief administrative officer. “We’ll have to pick and choose what we want to fight for.”

In budget hearings set to begin April 29, Budget and Finance Committee Chairman Richard Alatorre will review the mayor’s spending proposal department by department. The full council is expected to review the budget in late May.

“I think the City Council will go for 98% of this budget,” Riordan said. “We have talked to key council members. Obviously, they’re going to tweak it a little bit, but they’ve been very responsible over the years.”

The mayor appears to have included many so-called quality of life budget items, such as closing off nuisance alleys, repaving 225 miles of streets, hiring 21 more parks and recreation directors and eliminating the 75-cent fee for children to swim at city pools. Additionally, he called for more animal control staff to handle stray and roaming dogs throughout the city.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said he is concerned about two main areas of the budget: funding for the 26-school L.A. Bridges program, which targets students who are at risk of joining gangs, and funding for the animal regulation department. Riordan proposed no change in the budget for L.A. Bridges and he had strongly critical words for the program, which he said needs to be thoroughly evaluated.

Ridley-Thomas said animal services is another main priority.

“This is a department that, in my view, has been neglected,” Ridley-Thomas said. “It should be seen as part of public safety.”

In his budget, the mayor also added money expected to come from the tobacco settlement to pay for sidewalk and curb repairs needed to meet federal law. That issue has been under discussion with the city attorney’s office and council members, but mayoral aides said they believe the council will approve using the money for sidewalks.

One small item buried on Page 107 of the budget summary had City Hall employees cheering: $400,000 to replace “critical components” in the notoriously slow City Hall elevators. One top council aide copied that paragraph and circulated it among his colleagues shortly after receiving the budget.

“I like that,” he said. ‘This is good.”