As she accepts support from influential business group, Greuel discusses ideas for getting LA's fiscal house in order
Los Angeles – At a meeting with some of LA’s top business leaders, Wendy Greuel today outlined her initial ideas for bolstering the City's near- and long-term fiscal health, offering specific areas where the City can save tax dollars and bring in new revenues.
Greuel also received the endorsement of the Central Cities Association, one of the city’s most influential business organizations.
Greuel spoke with leaders from organizations including CCA, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association about LA’s budget process and how to improve the city’s business climate.
"Our city is at a crossroads. We have high unemployment, a reputation for being business unfriendly, a structural deficit and a crumbling infrastructure," said Carol E. Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association. "The next mayor has a lot to do and we believe that Wendy Greuel has the skills, experience, independence and strength to take on these challenges. It is our goal to work with the mayor in leading Los Angeles back to prosperity. To say it won’t be easy is an understatement, but we don’t accept the premise that it is impossible and that our problems are insurmountable. We believe that Wendy Greuel will get us there."
"I'm excited to work with CCA and all of the business leaders here today and across the city to jump-start LA's economy. We know we can make LA a great place to do business, a City with a thriving economy that attracts great jobs. Now we need to make the responsible decisions to close our budget gap," Greuel said. "The ideas we discussed today are a blueprint for how we can close our budget gap so we can get back to providing the services Angelenos depend on."
During the roundtable, Greuel discussed the following proposals:
- Pension reform. Greuel vowed to sit down with business and labor leaders as Mayor to address the city’s pension obligations for current employees, including looking at raising the retirement age and ending abuses like “pension spiking” and double dipping.
- Changing the city’s pension investment practices and spending less money on investment consultants, which could, conservatively, save more than $40 million annually.
- Cutting the cost of health benefits and workers’ compensation by 10%, which would save $60 million annually. Savings would be the result of better plan design, higher employee contributions, and higher co-pays, among other areas.
- Cutting the Mayor’s Office and City Council budgets by 25%, resulting in $6 million in annual savings.
- Implementing the recommendations of her audits that have not been acted upon to date. Greuel highlighted several audit recommendations that would bring savings to the budget’s bottom line in the amount of $12.4 million (i.e. the City’s cell phone policy, workers compensation billing policies, Animal Services collections).
- Cracking down on parking lot operator tax evaders, resulting in $20 million in additional annual revenues.
- Pushing to change laws to allow Los Angeles to give a preference to LA-based firms when awarding City contracts. (Currently the City can only give the preference to County-based firms.) Spending tax dollars locally could bring in an additional $10 million annually.
- Moving Council Discretionary Funds to the General Fund. Providing $30 million in the first year, and $3 million annually thereafter.
