Budget Tactics of Compton Council Are Questioned

Attempting to reduce its $7-million deficit, the Compton City Council laid off 24 city employees last week and said it was continuing to seek ways to balance its budget. But some criticize the city for hiring the mayor’s brother for a well-paid post and pushing forward with a special March election that could cost $50,000.

Last week’s layoffs, along with 40 employees who accepted a retirement package, will save the city $2.4 million and bring the deficit to about $4 million, said Assistant City Manager Raymond Brooks.

The council has been struggling to balance the $132-million budget since July, when a new majority was sworn in. Looking to decrease the gap, new City Manager Michael Heriot met with city department officials to examine where they could shave funds and create revenue, Brooks said.

The city also laid off 50 temporary employees in July. Both actions reduced the deficit by $3 million, yet a loss in sales tax revenue after the first quarter increased it by $2.2 million, Brooks said.

In September, the council approved an estimated $90,000 contract for former Compton Police Capt. Percy Perrodin, Mayor Eric Perrodin’s brother. Percy Perrodin will head the Municipal Law Enforcement Department, a federally funded program in charge of parking control, security officers and code enforcement for the city of 93,000. Twenty percent of Perrodin’s pay comes from the program’s federal grant funds, Brooks said.

The mayor, who did not vote on the decision, said the city manager hired his brother because of a need for a liaison between Compton and the Sheriff’s Department, which provides police services for the city.

“They’re laying off union people who are low on the totem pole and hiring people who make a lot of money,” said Benjamin Holifield, president and chief executive of Community Care, a nonprofit organization that focuses on Compton’s beautification. “It just doesn’t look good to citizens of this community.”

Brooks said the council’s decision was justified.

“I think any time you’re in a deficit, there are some programs you wish to continue to do,” he said. “The council felt it was imperative to have someone over that department that had an extensive law enforcement background, understood and knew the city and had the capability of interacting with the Sheriff’s [Department].”

Other council action last week included the approval of a March ballot measure asking voters if they want to resurrect the Compton police force, which was disbanded in 2000 when the council voted to give the county Sheriff’s Department a five-year contract.

The advisory measure, which will be on the presidential primary ballot, will cost the city $40,000 to $50,000.

Under the current contract, the city pays the Sheriff’s Department $12.5 million a year for 71 deputies stationed in Compton. Perrodin said that before the Police Department was disbanded, the city paid $10 million for 130 Compton officers and that $7 million of that came in grants.

“We keep hollering that there’s a crisis,” said Lorraine Cervantes, a community activist who was recently elected to the Compton Community College Board of Trustees. “So why would we spend $40,000 to $50,000 to do a straw vote and not a mandated vote?”

Mayor Perrodin, who foresees revenue entering the city in time to pay for the election, said the vote will give Compton citizens a chance to voice their opinion -- something they were not able to do in 2000. The vote might also put pressure on the Sheriff’s Department when it’s time to renew the city’s contract. The council “could’ve voted on this,” Perrodin said. “But I want to respect the citizens and see what they want.”

City officials attribute $1.2 million of the deficit to a three-month delay in collecting the increased revenue from the tripling of the car tax, an increase that has since been rescinded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Brooks said $2 million of the deficit comes from unbudgeted expenses and unfunded projects created by the previous City Council.

In the last two weeks the council has voted on numerous cost-saving measures. It increased city-planning fees, which had not changed since 1989. Some of the fees, such as those for a conditional use permit, will more than double, rising to $1,500 from $700.

The council also partnered with a collection agency to bring in delinquent loans, rentals and other money owed to the city. And the council canceled Compton’s annual Christmas parade, a tradition for more than 40 years.

But the parade, which would have cost the city about $100,000, was saved by the Compton Community College board, which voted unanimously Friday night to host the event on campus Dec. 20, college officials said.

For several years Compton has been marred by controversy, from corruption in city contracts to feuds among city officials.