Cost Control

Looking to slash payroll costs in a disastrous budget year, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council have thrown their support behind a new union contract that is designed to cut police overtime costs by 83%. The city's elected officials hope the two-year contract with the Los Angeles Police Protective League will reduce overtime costs by $72 million in the next fiscal year, according to a confidential report obtained by...

With the state -- and their university -- struggling through difficult economic times, UCLA football Coach Rick Neuheisel and basketball Coach Ben Howland have agreed to take pay cuts, a school official said. Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who has also agreed to a cut, said the details are still being negotiated but expects that he and the coaches will forgo as much as 10% of their salaries this year.

A substantial number of the budget revisions that will go before the Legislature today promise no real savings or revenue and would ensure that California's fiscal woes stretch beyond the current crisis into coming years. The Democrat-driven plan, which on paper reduces the state deficit by $23.2 billion, contains $7.2 billion in bookkeeping maneuvers, an analysis of the proposal shows.

The women and men, gently prodded by a facilitator, opened up about their daily inspirational practices: "Every morning and every night I create a feeling of gratitude for everything in my life," one woman said. Said another: "Remembering that there are so many people with so much less." Group therapy? No. It's a workforce training session held last month for the employees of Primary Freight Services Inc. of Rancho Dominguez.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has begun shutting down rescue units and eliminating paramedic field supervisors as part a cost-cutting plan that officials say will increase response times during life-threatening emergencies. The plan goes into full effect early Thursday, with 15 fire trucks and six ambulances being pulled out of service daily on a rotating basis citywide.

When not in a capital gripped by budget crises, state Sen. Ron Calderon can be found touring his San Gabriel Valley district in a Cadillac STS V8 Luxury Sports Sedan that the state bought for $54,830. The Democrat from Montebello spent an average $83 per week on gasoline last year, charged to California taxpayers on a state-issued card. When legislators' cars need maintenance or are in accidents -- even with spouses or offspring at the wheel -- taxpayers also pay, state records show.

It wasn't that long ago that Orange County's public transit system was named best in the country. Just 2005, in fact. The Orange County Transportation Authority was lauded for its service to the nation's fifth most populous county, logging a record number of bus trips and ridership growth. The agency was leading the way in green technology, the economy was booming and sales-tax revenue was pouring in. OCTA officials celebrated the honor by plastering a gold-medal logo, with their new bragging rights printed across it, onto the agency's 947 buses.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. closed its vehicle design center in Cypress this week, the latest move by an automaker to cut design costs. The closing, which eliminated about 30 jobs, comes as Mitsubishi is consolidating its design work at its corporate headquarters in Tokyo. A Mitsubishi design center in Germany will remain open, but with a greatly reduced staff.

The Community Services Board of Alexandria, Va., facing budget cutbacks along with many other municipalities in the country, turned to an unusual source recently to help it decide what to keep and what to pare. City staff had worked for several years to establish a new program, called Safe Haven, to provide housing to homeless residents with mental illness.

Teen specialty retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. on Wednesday became the latest company to announce sweeping cost-cutting plans to cope with the worsening economy. The retailer, which sells mainly surf and skate apparel and accessories, said it would eliminate 47 positions at its Anaheim headquarters and 10 field management positions, which would reduce its headquarters and field management staff by about 11%.