City Security Bill Hits $11 Million

The city of Los Angeles is out more than $11 million so far due to beefed-up security measures and lost revenue related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a report the city’s chief administrative officer sent to Los Angeles officials Tuesday.

William Fujioka said the city has lost about $3.3 million in revenue and spent $7.76 million on police overtime and other costs in the last 2 1/2 months.

Additional safety precautions taken by the airport and the city’s Department of Water and Power--which do not use tax dollars and have separate budgets--bring the total bill for security-related costs in Los Angeles to more than $30 million.

The impact of the Sept. 11 attacks is taxing the city’s strained finances at a time when officials have predicted that the weakening economy will cause a $71-million drop this year in projected tax revenue.

“If you combine the two, it’s a bunch of bucks,” said Bill Koenig, assistant city administrative officer. “That’s not a drop in the bucket.”

To compensate for the anticipated shortfall, Mayor James K. Hahn instituted a city hiring freeze last month and postponed pay increases for all managers. And Fujioka recommended that city agencies develop plans to cut spending by 10%.

The $11-million bite is only part of the ultimate toll on the city’s budget. By the end of the fiscal year in June, Los Angeles could lose $20 million to $30 million more in security-related expenses and dropping revenue, according to Tuesday’s report.

“It means that the elected leadership of the city will face a season of hard choices, and we need to be forthright about that,” said City Councilman Jack Weiss, who serves on the council’s Budget Committee. “But I believe enhanced security needs have to be among our very highest priorities.”

A large share of the city’s costs comes from the extra hours worked by police officers. So far, the Police Department has spent $2.5 million on security-related overtime. If the current level of security remains in place for the next six months, the department anticipates a $15-million deficit in overtime costs, the report said.

The city is also losing money because traffic control operators responsible for writing parking violation tickets across the city have been redeployed to deal with traffic at the airport. In addition, the closing of city parking lots at the Civic Center has cost Los Angeles thousands of dollars in revenue.

Despite the pressure the expenses place on the city’s annual $3-billion budget, officials said the measures are necessary to ensure the security of the city.

“It’s not good news,” said City Councilman Nick Pacheco, chairman of the Budget Committee. “It’s going to really require us to do some serious savings in other areas. But these aren’t areas we could in any way shortchange.”