Council Likes Many Aspects of Mayor’s Budget Plan

While praising the “tone” of Mayor Richard Riordan’s proposed budget, City Council members said Tuesday that they expect a contentious debate over several key elements, including whether Los Angeles should use its tobacco settlement funds to compensate victims of the Rampart corruption scandal.

A number of council members said they would not support Riordan’s proposal to obtain a $91-million bond secured by the city’s anticipated revenue from the settlement between tobacco firms and governments across the country. The council--which rejected Riordan’s tobacco bond proposal a month ago--argued that the city should pursue less costly measures to pay the anticipated $125 million in Rampart-related settlements.

“This is the part of the mayor’s budget that goes over like a lead balloon,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “He has demonstrated once again that he wishes to have it his way, and he is not the kind of guy who easily relents.”

Lawmakers also complained about the mayor’s plan to scrap the L.A. Bridges anti-gang program and questioned why he failed to set aside money to start an affordable housing “trust fund” to help low-income residents buy homes.

Even while taking issue with certain elements of Riordan’s $4.4-billion budget, a number of council members said they generally liked the spending plan. They will now spend the next few weeks analyzing it before adopting a final budget before the June 1 deadline.

“I think this budget is on the right track,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, head of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee. “It appears to be a concerted effort to deal with the city’s issues in the upcoming year. There are some very important quality-of-life improvements that residents will see right away.”

For example, Riordan is proposing spending more money on libraries and parks, while doubling the city’s reserve fund to about $66 million--the largest ever.

He is also calling for cutting business taxes for small and start-up businesses, representing about $7.5 million in reduced revenues. In addition, he wants to eliminate the Fire Department’s controversial brush clearance fee and scrap the waste water franchise fee, which would guarantee a freeze in the sewer service charges for at least five years.

“There will be some arguments over individual issues; that’s to be expected,” said Councilman Joel Wachs. “I think the mayor’s overall approach is a sound one. When you come in with a balanced budget that doesn’t raise taxes, it becomes very difficult for people to start changing it significantly without coming up with alternatives.”

Some changes that council members said they would like to make include setting up a special account to help low-income residents buy homes and provide financial incentives to landlords who rent apartments at below-market rates.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg criticized the proposal to scrap L.A. Bridges and start a new anti-gang effort. She and other officials said it would be better to fix the program.

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

“If you throw the Bridges program in the hole and you start from scratch, in a year and a half, we’ll be in the same position again,” Goldberg said.

Anticipating the council criticism, Riordan told the lawmakers Tuesday that he would be willing to incorporate some of L.A. Bridges’ successes into a new effort. “I’m not giving up on anti-gang programs,” he said. “I want to ensure that every program we support provides effective services to at-risk youth.”

Council members questioned the mayor’s plan to speed up paramedic response times in the San Fernando Valley by splitting up paramedics who work in pairs so more ambulances and fire vehicles will be available for calls.

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Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this story.