Council Approves Hahn’s Budget With Few Changes

Los Angeles City Council members unanimously approved Mayor James K. Hahn’s $5.3-billion budget proposal Monday after making only minor revisions to the spending plan.

“We knocked this thing out in one day,” City Council President Alex Padilla said just after 5 p.m. as people around him in the council chambers began congratulating one another.

The mayor pledged to sign the plan when it reaches his desk next week and praised council members for working with him to overcome a $300-million shortfall while expanding police and fire department services.

“It’s a great budget,” Hahn said.

That reaction was in sharp contrast to last year, when the mayor and council engaged in a bitter, four-week battle over Hahn’s plan to spend $30 million to add 320 police officers. Hahn vetoed the council’s changes to his budget, but members overrode the veto and substituted their own budget plan that did not include the officers.

The mayor’s spending plan this year contained no costly increases. It called for a modest, 30-officer expansion of the Los Angeles Police Department and commitments to maintain street-repair and increase after-school programs. To balance the budget, he proposed a one-time transfer of an additional $60 million from the city’s Department of Water and Power to the general fund, as well as a $130-million transfer from the city’s reserves. He also listed nearly $80 million in cuts.

Council members accepted most of that plan, and many officials said they could not recall a time when the council had made so few changes to a mayoral budget.

“It will look like a win for the mayor,” said political analyst and USC scholar Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. “But the reality is, there’s not much money to fight over. I think the council would risk looking irresponsible to start playing games with the mayor’s budget in hard times.”

The council’s budget committee began reviewing the mayor’s proposal last month. During two weeks of hearings, officials came up with about $30 million in additional funds, that allowed council members to restore some parks and arts programs that Hahn had proposed cutting. They also rejected the mayor’s plan to eliminate the Environmental Affairs Department, which would have saved the city $1 million.

The full council took up the budget Monday. During the seven-hour session, Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa persuaded the council to restore $1.4 million to the city’s Cultural Affairs Department to pay for children’s art classes, cultural tourism and heritage celebrations and for small grants to arts organizations. The mayor had proposed a $3.6-million cut.

“The idea that we would not adequately fund arts and culture in a city where we spend less per capita than any other big city in the nation was unacceptable to me,” said Villaraigosa, who added that he had located funds that officials had overlooked. “While there are many important things in our budget, arts and culture lift the human spirit, and you can’t put a price tag on that.”

“Everyone came in and agreed on top priorities,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, the mayor’s sister. “This is a good, balanced budget that will provide for public safety and basic services.”

By 5 p.m., as candy wrappers were littering desks and coffee was being surreptitiously slurped, council members were issuing congratulations on a job well done.

They applauded Councilman Bernard C. Parks, the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee and potential mayoral candidate. They clapped for the city analysts who churned out the endless reports and for the mayor’s staff who prepared the budget. They even applauded the cook who had prepared their lunch.