Heated at Times, Budget Debate Gets Underway

Opening their debate on Mayor Richard Riordan’s budget proposal, Los Angeles City Council members voiced their initial concerns Thursday, focusing mainly on the sections of the $2.8-billion spending plan that involve the police and fire departments.

Council members typically shift money, where available, to fund their priority programs and departments. But this year, the mayor appears to have funded many of the lawmakers’ priorities already.

In part, Riordan had that luxury because a strong economy has boosted city revenues and allowed him leeway to add programs without raising taxes. Riordan, who unveiled his budget last week, said he focused on public safety, neighborhood needs and programs for children.

The budget proposes hiring 157 police officers with the use of a federal grant, as well as hiring 126 firefighters. In addition, Riordan included money for longer library hours, eliminating the swimming pool fee for children, and resurfacing 225 miles of city streets, the largest resurfacing program in city history. All of those ideas are popular with council members.

Still, some council members say they are concerned, for example, about ensuring that the Fire Department has enough money for helicopters and other equipment. Some members also want assurances that the Police Department will deploy its new officers on the streets rather than in investigatory and other positions.

That debate, which grew heated at times Thursday, is expected to continue because Police Chief Bernard C. Parks told the council he wants to use 61 officers and 18 sergeants in the field, while promoting and increasing the number of detectives in such divisions as juvenile and financial crimes and the elite Metropolitan Division.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, who heads the council’s budget committee and who has been a longtime ally of Parks, said he wanted assurances that more officers will be assigned to the streets.

In a testy exchange with the chief, Alatorre said: “You’re using the money . . . to pay for pay increases and the like. . . . We have a difference of opinion. . . . Clear this up.”

The Police Department is expected to submit a report on the officers and other issues raised by the lawmakers next week.

Riordan has said he fully expects the council to tweak his budget a bit. For Alatorre, the budget represents the last one in a long career, because the councilman is retiring this summer.

Still, Riordan has said he believes lawmakers generally will accept his budget.

Council members said they will scrutinize the budget with input from the city departments. They expect to hold at least a week’s worth of hearings, with the full council taking a vote in late May.

“The good news is that the economy is healthy,” Alatorre said, adding that he has received tens of millions of dollars in additional budget requests from departments.

Councilwoman Rita Walters, a determined critic of the mayor, raised numerous issues with the budget, including the lack of funding for alternative housing for people displaced by the parking lots needed for the downtown Staples Center sports arena.

In an embarrassing exchange, Deputy Mayor Jennifer Roth said money for that purpose was not included in the mayor’s budget after consultations with city departments, such as the chief legislative analyst’s office, which advises the council.

But officials with that office flatly disputed that assertion, saying they requested more than $4 million for the replacement housing.

Roth said she will prepare a report for the panel on that issue.

Not everyone, however, had a gripe about the budget.

The zoo’s general manager, Manuel A. Mollinedo, said: “The zoo is very pleased with the proposed mayor’s budget. I feel it’s going to allow us to continue with the progress that has been made over the last four years.”