Rampart Costs Weigh Heavily in Riordan’s Fiscal Plan

More than one-quarter of all the city of Los Angeles’ new spending next year would go toward paying the costs of the Rampart police corruption scandal under the budget prepared by Mayor Richard Riordan and scheduled for submission to the City Council today

That means, Riordan said in an interview Monday, that the initial effect of the Rampart scandal on city finances is that money that could have been spent on books for children, longer library hours, more park directors and more street repairs instead will go toward paying for police misconduct and crimes.

According to Riordan’s proposed budget, total new city expenditures in the coming fiscal year would amount to $150.5 million. Of that, $40.9 million would go toward investigating the scandal, preparing for lawsuits, paying the claims of those wronged by police in connection with the Rampart allegations and reforming the LAPD to prevent a recurrence of the events that have devastated public confidence in the Police Department.

Moreover, that amount does not include money that would be spent in any event on LAPD internal investigations and on police misconduct cases unrelated to Rampart.

The budget also contains good news for Riordan and city residents: A thriving local economy makes it possible for the mayor to propose paying for Rampart and increasing city services without resorting to tax hikes. But since the plan relies, in part, on ideas the City Council already has rejected, the stage has been set for a potentially fractious budget season at City Hall.

Riordan’s $2.9-billion general fund budget represents a 5% increase over city spending this year, and it makes ends meet by taking advantage of a local economy that continues to register impressive gains--yielding more money in property taxes, business taxes, sales taxes and hotel taxes, all without higher tax rates. With those measures all on the rise, the Riordan administration budget proposes to make some modest fee cuts while still anticipating an additional $150 million in general fund revenue next year.

The budget is shadowed, however, by the Rampart police scandal, whose long-term ramifications are profound and could crimp future city spending. This year, Riordan recommends setting aside $30 million to handle the first wave of anticipated lawsuits arising from the scandal. Looking to the future, Riordan proposes creation of a $91-million bond that would be paid for using the city’s anticipated revenue from the settlement between major tobacco companies and governments across the country. That proposal already has been turned down once by the City Council, so its inclusion in the budget undoubtedly will draw special scrutiny.

The Rampart scandal has other budget consequences as well. Under Riordan’s proposal, $6 million would be set aside to reform the LAPD--a sum referred to as the “Rampart Response Package”--and another $4.9 million would be spent on investigating the scandal and preparing for litigation.

Despite the limits on spending imposed by police misconduct, Riordan’s budget nevertheless sets aside money for new libraries, new after-school programs, meals for senior citizens, firefighting equipment and many other services. Riordan also proposes to spend $4.5 million on various measures related to the implementation of the new city charter, including the creation of a citywide network of neighborhood councils and the establishment of seven area planning commissions intended to bring decisions on planning issues closer to the communities they affect.

Riordan would not raise any fees or taxes, and the budget includes a few small reductions. If approved by the council, the budget would freeze sewer service charges for at least five years, reduce business taxes for new companies, eliminate a controversial brush clearance inspection fee and refund about $12 million that was overcharged to taxpayers as part of a recent bond measure.

On a political level, the mayor’s budget shrewdly forces the council to defend its approach on other services, and in some cases attempts to wrest from the council the mantle of working-class protection.

On street repairs, for instance, Riordan sets aside enough money to pay for a record 245 miles of new work, but the mayor challenged the council to drop its longtime insistence that such repairs be prioritized by council district and according to the number of miles of road in each district.

A better system, Riordan said, would be to spread the money around based on the age of city streets and their usage, an approach that would steer more money to poorer areas.

In a session with Times reporters and editors, Riordan acknowledged that some areas of his budget will be controversial, but the mayor expressed confidence that the final spending document will not be too different from the one he submits to the council today.

“Obviously, it’ll be changed,” Riordan said. “Our experience is that the changes are relatively small, although they’ll be blown up in the newspaper as being big.”

The tobacco settlement money clearly looms as the most obvious source of disagreement. Riordan acknowledged that the council probably will reject his recommendation in that area.

It would not be the first time. A month ago, the council soundly rejected Riordan’s proposal to use the tobacco settlement money to compensate victims in the Rampart corruption scandal.

Meanwhile, the line is already drawn in the sand on another aspect of the Riordan budget--his support for a short extension of the L.A. Bridges Program. A number of council members said last week that they will oppose the mayor’s plan to cut off funding for the anti-gang initiative after three months if alleged mismanagement of the program persists.

A recent audit by City Controller Rick Tuttle found that Bridges--which has cost the city $28 million since 1997--is so poorly operated that it should be shut down and overhauled. The program, which provides after-school programs and counseling for nearly 7,000 students from 27 middle schools, should be refocused and scaled back to five to 10 schools, Tuttle said.

When campaigning in 1993, Riordan pledged to expand the LAPD by 3,000 officers in four years and at other points vowed to add enough officers to give the LAPD a strength of 10,000 sworn men and women. Six years later, the department remains just shy of that goal, though the LAPD today is the largest it has ever been.

Riordan’s new budget does not provide money for expansion of the LAPD, and actually trims the department’s spending for the coming year by 1%.

It does set aside money to recruit and train 730 officers in the coming year, but that would just keep pace with anticipated attrition, leaving the LAPD at its current officer strength.

As of last week, the LAPD had 9,301 officers, according to the department’s press relations office.

Asked Monday whether he was satisfied with the LAPD’s size, Riordan responded: “Absolutely not.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Proposed City Budget

Here is Mayor Richard Riordan’s proposed city budget for 2000-01. The $2.9-billion general fund budget is $150 million more than the 1999-2000 budget.

Highlights

No new taxes

No net increase in police or fire department staff

$41 million related to Rampart scandal: $30 million for liability, $11 million for investigation and reform

$4.5 million for implementing new city charter

*

* This category includes creation of a citywide network of neighborhood councils and other changes related to the adoption of the new city charter.

*

New city positions

Police and fire: 30%

Neighborhood services: 22%

Library: 17%

Recreation and parks/zoo: 16%

Neighborhood empowerment*: 10%

Other: 5%

*

Source: Mayor’s office