Civilian Workers

Nearly 160 civilian Los Angeles Police Department employees could be laid off by Jan. 1 in a plan by City Hall to address its budget deficit, according to an internal department website posting obtained by The Times. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said jobs targeted for elimination under a previous proposal from City Hall are one police administrator III, 10 secretaries, 81 senior clerk typists, 66 clerk typists and a nutritionist. "I know this is a very stressful time for all and I want to avoid rumors and miscommunication, which can only increase the stress level," Beck wrote in the post.

Ten weeks before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday offered a $7.7-billion budget that would begin reversing years of cuts to basic city services such as tree trimming and sidewalk repairs while avoiding employee layoffs and furloughs. Buoyed by an estimated $111-million uptick in revenue, Villaraigosa's spending plan for the coming year provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase 533 new vehicles at the Los Angeles Police Department and trim an additional 35,000 trees - leaving the city on its most solid footing since it was engulfed in crisis five years ago. The mayor also offered a long-term blueprint for financial recovery that would require the city's elected officials to be far less generous to their public employees than he and the council were during his eight-year tenure.

The Navy announced it would begin random drug testing of selected civilian employees this fall. The service said its final plan for the tests had been signed Aug. 6 by Navy Secretary William L. Ball III and that 81,000 of the Navy's 337,000 civilian workers are being notified they will be subject to urinalysis testing for drugs. Although testing legally could begin as early as Oct. 6, the Navy does not plan to start the program until early November, said Lt. Ken Ross, a Navy spokesman.

In a surprise move, a union that represents about 10,000 civilian workers at Los Angeles City Hall has called two top mayoral candidates back for more interviews, signaling it may bestow a pivotal endorsement five weeks before the election. The Service Employees International Union failed to back any of the four leading contenders in the March 5 mayoral election after they appeared at a closed-door union forum nearly two months ago. But both City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilman Eric Garcetti have been summoned to appear for a second round Tuesday and spend 45 minutes answering questions from members, union officials said.

Word that the naval station at Point Mugu had been added Wednesday to a list of military bases recommended for closure spread quickly among the thousands who live and work at the sprawling center. Shock, disbelief and skepticism ruled the emotions of many Navy and civilian workers at the air weapons station.

The Transportation Department began its controversial random testing of employees for drugs Thursday as about 50 workers in safety related jobs provided urine samples, officials said. The testing, which is being challenged in court, is the first random drug testing of civilian government employees under an executive order from President Reagan.

Nearly 200 civilian workers at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme will be laid off due to budget shortfalls and a smaller workload, military officials announced Monday. By mid-October, 180 jobs--about 17% of the current civilian work force--will be eliminated. This year, the base faced a $9-million budget shortfall due to federal cuts in military spending and a loss of military contract work, Seabee officials said. Layoff notices will begin going out in May, officials said.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday reversed its decision to lay off 27 firefighters and abandoned a plan to levy a $110-a-year tax on homeowners in anticipation of dramatic losses in state funding. The supervisors said the firefighter layoffs and the parcel tax are no longer necessary because state legislators have agreed to spare fire districts from sharp funding cuts next fiscal year.

In a move designed to free up hundreds of police officers to fight crime on the streets of Los Angeles, the Clinton Administration announced Friday an $18.3-million allocation for computers and civilian staff for the city's police force.

Ten weeks before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday offered a $7.7-billion budget that would begin reversing years of cuts to basic city services such as tree trimming and sidewalk repairs while avoiding employee layoffs and furloughs. Buoyed by an estimated $111-million uptick in revenue, Villaraigosa's spending plan for the coming year provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase 533 new vehicles at the Los Angeles Police Department and trim an additional 35,000 trees - leaving the city on its most solid footing since it was engulfed in crisis five years ago. The mayor also offered a long-term blueprint for financial recovery that would require the city's elected officials to be far less generous to their public employees than he and the council were during his eight-year tenure.

Nearly 160 civilian Los Angeles Police Department employees could be laid off by Jan. 1 in a plan by City Hall to address its budget deficit, according to an internal department website posting obtained by The Times. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said jobs targeted for elimination under a previous proposal from City Hall are one police administrator III, 10 secretaries, 81 senior clerk typists, 66 clerk typists and a nutritionist. "I know this is a very stressful time for all and I want to avoid rumors and miscommunication, which can only increase the stress level," Beck wrote in the post.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider a sharp rollback in pensions for newly hired employees, offering them lower benefits with less financial help from the city. Unlike the reforms recently adopted in San Diego, San Jose and the state Legislature, the proposal the council is mulling wouldn't touch current employees' benefits. So in a way, it's solving a future problem, not the one the city faces right now. Nevertheless, if the city's pension benefits aren't sustainable, it doesn't make sense to offer them to the next generation of employees.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year is imbued with his trademark optimism, but it also carries an implicit threat. The optimism is seen in the mayor's determination not to lay off workers or scale back the reach of city government in spite of a projected shortfall of almost $458 million, or 10% of the city's expected general fund revenue. The threat is that if city workers don't agree to cover more of the cost of their retirement benefits, many will be hit with furloughs that make a significantly deeper cut in their take-home pay. About 19,000 members of six city unions are voting now on a proposed contract amendment that would raise their retirement contributions instead of imposing furloughs, and they should endorse it. But even if they do, that probably won't be enough to spare the city more budget heartache down the road.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a $6.9-billion budget Wednesday that, despite lethargic tax revenues amid a struggling economy, expands an array of city services. The proposal for the 2011-12 fiscal year calls for eliminating a $457-million shortfall while increasing pothole repairs by 20%, restoring one day of library service cut last year and putting an end to rotating staff reductions at the Fire Department. Those changes would occur as the city continues hiring enough officers to maintain existing staffing levels at the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the plan.

Looking to cut costs in the middle of a budget crisis, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Wednesday for an increase in the retirement age for civilian city workers and an immediate freeze on healthcare subsidies paid to retired police officers and firefighters. Villaraigosa said he would work with the council to boost the retirement age for newly hired civilian employees ? such as librarians, park workers and 911 operators ? to 65. Workers currently can retire at 55 if they have worked 33 years.

Worried about spiraling pension costs, seven members of the Los Angeles City Council called Friday for reductions in the benefits given to civilian workers and an increase in the retirement age from 55 to at least 60. The proposal, which could come up for a vote within two weeks, calls for most civilian city workers to contribute 2% of their salaries to pay for the healthcare provided to retired employees. Currently they pay nothing for that benefit, city officials said. The decrease in benefits would apply only to new hires, not existing employees.

Civilian workers who suffered devastating injuries while supporting the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home to a grinding battle for basic medical care, artificial limbs, psychological counseling and other services. The insurance companies responsible for their treatment under taxpayer-funded policies have routinely denied the most serious medical claims.

Worried about spiraling pension costs, seven members of the Los Angeles City Council called Friday for reductions in the benefits given to civilian workers and an increase in the retirement age from 55 to at least 60. The proposal, which could come up for a vote within two weeks, calls for most civilian city workers to contribute 2% of their salaries to pay for the healthcare provided to retired employees. Currently they pay nothing for that benefit, city officials said. The decrease in benefits would apply only to new hires, not existing employees.

T. Christian Miller, a reporter for the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica, has won the $35,000 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for a collaboration with the Los Angeles Times that called attention to the plight of civilian workers injured in Iraq. The articles, which Miller began reporting as a Times staff writer, focused on workers hired by Pentagon contractors to drive fuel trucks, cook, translate and perform other support services. More than 1,700 civilian workers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 37,000 injured.

Navy officials in Port Hueneme inadvertently mailed the Social Security numbers and security classifications of more than 200 civilian employees to an engineer and two other employees accused of being security risks, according to the engineer, his attorney and a union representing government employees. Also mailed were several documents marked "secret" and "top secret," according to the engineer, Gary Biggers, and his attorney, Jack Futoran. Navy spokesman Darrell Waller said the documents "were inappropriately marked, but not by this command."