City preparing for layoffs

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday the city is preparing for layoffs in the fiscal year that begins July 1 to close a budget shortfall that could swell to $500 million.

Villaraigosa instructed the city’s general managers to draw up seniority lists, as the city’s Chief Administrative Officer Karen Sisson said in a budget report “it is almost certain that layoffs will be required.”

Civil service rules allow employees with more experience to “bump” those with fewer years on the job. Workers can move within or across departments, displacing colleagues.

The news about layoffs came as Sisson, the city’s top budget analyst, said declining revenues and rising costs had driven up a shortfall in the current year’s budget from $38 million to $50 million.

Sisson recommended that the City Council lift a restriction on layoffs in the current year. Any dismissals done by June 30 would reduce the number required next fiscal year, she said.

Sisson also called for several fund transfers within the city budget to reduce the shortfall. That would affect various city operations, including regular sidewalk repairs, which would be suspended through June 30 to save $3 million.

-- Duke Helfand