City Has No Assets List, Official Says

The city of Los Angeles lacks a centralized and complete record of its assets, requiring an extraordinary effort to avoid delays in providing an inventory for the study of San Fernando Valley secession, Los Angeles Controller Rick Tuttle warned Wednesday.

Tuttle proposed in a letter to Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council that a task force be formed to create a workable system to track the city’s ownership of computers, cars, desks and buildings.

“The city’s current lack of a centralized inventory system for fixed assets along with inadequate attention to correctly using the systems that do exist, precludes the city from easily identifying the existence, value and location of items the city is responsible for controlling,” Tuttle wrote.

To provide a timely inventory of assets for the secession study by the Local Agency Formation Commission, Tuttle said city officials may have to make special efforts to go through city buildings to verify what the city owns.

“It could very likely require an extra effort to avoid a delay,” Tuttle said.

The admission that the city lacks a centralized list of city assets shocked Richard Close, chairman of the secession group Valley VOTE.

“This goes to the whole heart of the question of whether the city is being properly managed,” Close said. “Obviously, the answer is no.”

LAFCO has not yet requested data on city holdings. The agency must decide how city assets are to be divided between any new city and what would be left of Los Angeles.

Tuttle said initial inquiries by city departments that expect to be asked for information helped turn up the lack of a comprehensive inventory.

The controller also cited a series of audits done by his office that found city departments often could not account for computers, furniture and even equipment held by the Los Angeles Police Department.

One result of not knowing what it owns, Tuttle said, is that the city is vulnerable to theft of equipment.

The controller said many city departments maintain separate, and incomplete lists of assets, which he said could stymie proper management of limited resources.

For city vehicles, the General Services Department keeps a list of many cars and trucks, but the police, fire, airports, and water and power departments all keep separate lists.

A private consultant has recommended that the city create a master list and management system for the city’s vehicle fleet, said Randall Bacon, who heads the General Services Department.

If one department needs a vehicle and another has a surplus, the taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill for an unnecessary purchase, Bacon said.

“There is communication now, but it is just more informal,” Bacon said.

Bacon’s department also keeps a list of many city properties, but he said proprietary departments, including the Department of Water and Power, keep separate lists.

The Times reported in May that city departments often lease private office space despite the fact that other departments have surplus offices.

“It would not hurt to formalize one list,” Bacon said. “I think there would be some value in that.”