Budgets

Times are tough enough for Californians; they're even tougher for Californians' teeth. "One-quarter of all adults and 28% of children in California have untreated dental caries [cavities]," says Len Finocchio, a senior program officer at the California Healthcare Foundation, a health advocacy group. "Our research tells us that many people in California have been avoiding routine care that might have cost about $100 for a checkup and cleaning, and then find themselves in the emergency room, where they get only an antibiotic, a bill that can average over $600 and instructions to see a dentist."

Re "An L.A. budget, with holes," Editorial, May 18 Since 2009, the city has undertaken unprecedented structural reform while addressing each year's shortfall, including: Requiring employees to contribute 2% to 4% (from zero) of their pay for retiree health benefits, and freezing benefits for employees not contributing. The elimination of nearly 5,000 positions, resulting in the smallest civilian workforce since Tom Bradley was mayor. Pension reform and a 20% salary reduction for new hires.

Fountain Valley School District trustees have given final approval to a budget for 1997-98. A key tenet of the spending plan is $16 million for teachers' salaries to continue the district's class-size reduction program, which officials said led to significant improvement in test scores among second-graders. Results from the national Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills among second-graders showed an 8% increase in percentile rankings over the previous year, officials said.

A just-released update for Mint's iPhone and iPad app lets users take the information graphed out about their spending habits and set their own ranges and limits by sliding the indicator up or down. In addition to being updated for the iPad's new Retina display, the latest Mint lets users spin the pie chart that gives a quick view to categories of spending and drill down detail with a tap. The change I'm most excited about, though, is the ability to personalize budgets.

The Dow Jones industrial average is closing in on 10,000 -- from the wrong direction. Stock markets around the world plunged Thursday on concerns about the mounting debt problems of several European governments as well as an unexpected rise in U.S. jobless claims. The Dow tumbled nearly 270 points -- coming within three points of closing below the 10,000-point mark. In the final minutes of trading, the blue-chip gauge was briefly below 10,000, falling as low as 9,998.

Rachel Abramowitz's piece ("Downsizing," June 7) was interesting, but the headline is a bit misleading. While it is true that the directors discussed may have had to do without some of the A-list actors their bigger films featured, all but Steven Soderbergh's "Girlfriend Experience" had more than adequate budgets that struggling indie filmmakers can only dream about. Low-budget features these aren't: Sam Raimi's $30-million "Drag Me to Hell" cost many times more alone than the combined budgets of his "Evil Dead" trilogy (even adjusted for inflation)

The Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana are cutting their budgets -- 20% and 10%, respectively -- by laying off employees and canceling or delaying exhibitions. The Pacific Asia Museum also plans to hike its $7 admission fee by $1 or $2 and begin charging for lectures and workshops that previously were free. "It's painful to let good people go and cut back programs, but my job and the trustees' is to look at the long-term health of the museum," said Pacific Asia director Joan Marshall.

At least 30 states from coast to coast face budget deficits, providing further proof that the nation is in a recession, a Boston newspaper reported Friday. The deficits range from $1 billion each in New York and California to $42 million in Tennessee, according to studies by the National Assn. of State Budget Officers and the Boston Globe.

Until recently, frugality just wasn't something you bragged about. But with the economic meltdown, Americans are searching for ways to travel without blowing their budgets. Here are some techniques to keep more cash in your wallet. Use low-cost hotels LastMinuteTravel.com recently launched $10 Tuesdays in major cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., and Amsterdam.

Orange County court officials will ask a judge today to immunize them from any possible penalties after the county accused the courts of overspending their budget by at least $1.4 million. The move came as county supervisors harshly criticized court administrators for the overspending--and as County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier said that her office would strip the courts of their purchasing authority.

SACRAMENTO — Some of California's share of the money from a national legal settlement with big mortgage lenders can be used to help fill a hole in the governor's proposed budget, the Legislature's nonpartisan policy advisor recommended. The legislative analyst's office reported Tuesday that $411 million should be used for a variety of purposes. Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris, who reached the settlement together with other state attorneys general, wanted to use most of the $411 million on financial counseling and education.

WASHINGTON - The Congressional Budget Office warned that the country could be thrown into a recession if Congress tries to reduce the nation's deficit quickly with a combination of budget cuts and higher taxes scheduled to take place at the end of the year. The nonpartisan budget office laid out the stark choices Tuesday over what has been called the coming fiscal cliff as congressional leaders square off in an expected partisan showdown from now through December. The office warned that the growth of the nation's gross domestic product - the value of goods and services produced - would slow to just 0.5% next year if Congress did nothing.

When it comes time to trade in your frequent-flier reward points for seats on an airplane, low-cost airlines do the best job of getting you in the air. That was the conclusion of a study released last week by IdeaWorks, a Wisconsin consultant to the airline industry. In March, IdeaWorks submitted nearly 7,000 booking requests through the frequent-flier websites of 23 airlines. Seats were requested for the airline's most popular routes in June through October. The study had a 93.5% success rate of finding available seats on low-cost airlines around the world, including U.S. carriers such as Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways.

The Los Angeles City Council passed a $7.2-billion budget Monday, voting to cut 400 unfilled city staff positions but putting off difficult decisions on layoffs, park funding and Fire Department resources. On a 15-0 vote, council members agreed to wait until January to determine whether layoffs are necessary, and which positions could be eliminated, saying that more study is needed. They took that step despite a warning from the city's top budget official that some of the revenue being used to balance spending isn't a sure thing.

SALTON SEA STATE RECREATION AREA - During the heyday of the Salton Sea, when the Hollywood crowd and others came to play in large numbers, this strip of beaches, campsites and fishing spots along the sea's northern shore was one of California's most popular parks. But that was years ago. The popularity of the recreation area has plummeted in recent decades, and now the area is on a list of parks to be closed because of the state's financial woes. Unlike other parks slated for closure, this one may never come back, park officials said.

SACRAMENTO - Efforts to ease California's foreclosure woes, among the worst in the nation, are running into roadblocks at the state Capitol. A rare legislative conference committee called to rescue a pair of stalled foreclosure-prevention bills is bogged down in marathon sessions. Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing to use some of California's share of the $25-billion national mortgage settlement to plug holes in the state's budget, dismaying housing activists. Since the start of the real estate bust, foreclosures have been a persistent drag on the state's homeowners and economy.

Task force Chairman Keith Richman submitted Monday a working budget for the 1998-99 school year to the Cal State Northridge Task Force on Intercollegiate Athletics that was meant to address budget and gender-quity problems. Richman's proposed budget would maintain the schools' existing sports--including the four men's sports the university tried to cut--and meet CAL-NOW gender requirements. "This budget is meant to stabilize the program," Richman said.

Since the early 1980s, our wages have risen and the economy has grown, which leaves many of us wondering where the money has gone. We can show, for example, that the median income of a "typical family," a two-earner, married couple, has nearly doubled from $26,879 in 1980 to $51,883 in 1993, but we can also show that what's left to spend is only $4,504 more. Those numbers tell much about why, according to consumer studies, people sense they aren't making financial progress.

Los Angeles firefighters are taking longer to get to medical emergencies following steep budget cuts approved by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council, according to a much-anticipated audit of Fire Department response times released Friday by City Controller Wendy Greuel. Greuel found that "real response times" to medical calls have increased on average about 20 seconds - to seven minutes and eight seconds - since a series of department cutbacks were ordered beginning in 2009.

There is a bit to cheer in the proposed budget that the City Council could take up as early as Friday. An uptick in property tax revenue provided a badly needed bit of room to maneuver. Cutbacks in services that might have led to the elimination of 600 jobs now may end up claiming about two-thirds as many. A modest increase to the city's reserve fund may also be possible. Those are the results of a thoughtful and meticulous process engaged in by the council's new Budget and Finance chair, Councilman Paul Krekorian.