BUDGET: L.A. council continues its search for new sources of revenue.
LA Daily News, by Rick Orlov, Staff Writer

City Council members debated Thursday whether the city could save money by reducing contract costs and making property owners pay to repair sidewalks as they worked to close a $684 million deficit looming over Los Angeles.

The council did approve a $147 million transfer from the Department of Water and Power, an annual payment that represents 8 percent of the revenue generated by power operations. The city is banned from taking money from water operations.

Most of the meeting, however, was spent discussing ways for the city to generate more revenue, such as aggressively collecting bad debts and asking contractors to reduce their bills by 10 percent.

“Most of the contractors have shown a willingness to step forward,” City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said, estimating the city might see as much as a $15 million return on the $150 million in contracts the city has for this year.

Beyond that, Santana said the city is reviewing its contracts to see if they can be canceled and the work performed by city workers.

Council President Eric Garcetti said the goal is to save money and jobs.

The City Council is looking at 1,000 layoffs by July 1 and 3,000 more in fiscal 2010-11.

Antoinette Christovale, general manager of the Department of Finance, said she is reviewing how much is owed the city and speeding up the collection process by bringing in outside firms to collect debts.

The city is owed about $105 million in outstanding ambulance fees, although just $20 million is likely to be collected, officials said.

The Department of Transportation has a contract with a firm to collect overdue payments for traffic tickets, but Garcetti said it might be difficult to collect them all because people move and ignore the citations.

Christovale said her department is in the middle of receiving business taxes, which are expected to bring in nearly $300 million this year.

Working with the state Franchise Tax Board, the city has been aggressively working to uncover businesses that do not pay local taxes.

Councilman Bernard Parks, who chairs the council’s Budget and Finance Committee, suggested it is time for the city to get out of the sidewalk repair business.

“Between 2001 and 2008-09, over $95 million has been spent on repairing sidewalks,” Parks said. “During that period, about 550 miles more deteriorated.”

Parks said he believes the council needs to look at transferring responsibility for sidewalks to businesses and property owners.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl said he wanted to see what action is needed to implement another proposal, requiring sidewalk repair money be provided when a property is sold.

Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller said a number of other proposals to bring in more money are pending, including a hike in ambulance fees, developing a fee for on-scene paramedic treatment and an annual fee for emergency medical service.

Other areas where increases are being studied are brush clearance fees, burglar alarm fees, parking meter fees, parking citations and the trash collection fee.