Los Angeles Finances

Settling a lawsuit over unpaid alcohol laboratory analysis fees, Los Angeles County is expected to pay the city more than $900,000 in fees owed the city since 1992. City Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said Monday that the settlement is "a real win" for the city, and she proposed that the Los Angeles Police Department crime lab receive half of the money. The settlement still must be approved by the City Council.

Four years after City Councilman Joel Wachs declared war on $1.80 legal pads, $300 answering machines and $24 computer diskettes, the City Council on Tuesday approved a new purchasing system aimed at saving taxpayers millions of dollars a year. Wachs, who called the city's current purchasing system "wasteful and inefficient," said the new approach will ensure that the city pays the lowest prices for its $800 million to $900 million in purchases every year.

Over the objections of Mayor Richard Riordan to two of four bond measures, the Los Angeles City Council formally agreed Wednesday to seek voter approval for more than $1 billion in improvements to the city's library, zoo, Exposition Park area and sidewalks. Riordan, whose support for the measures is considered crucial to their passage, endorses the $178.3-million library bond and $47.6-million zoo bond but he will not support the $769.4-million sidewalk tax or the $46.

At a special meeting of the Los Angeles City Council's Transportation Committee, Councilman Richard Alarcon instructed city staff to research how the city might purchase the Department of Water and Power's largely vacant Anthony Building on Arleta Avenue to house a new police station.

The Los Angeles City Council adopted a comprehensive debt policy Tuesday that limits civic borrowing, requires a strong reserve fund and is designed to maintain the city's high Wall Street bond rating. But while some lawmakers championed the debt policy as one of the council's strongest moves toward fiscal responsibility, others said it ultimately will have little impact because the mayor and council could vote to change it whenever they need additional funds.

A collection of antique parking meters stands in rows inside the Los Angeles Department of Transportation's meter repair shop, images from the city's past. There is the original one-cent "Park-O-Meter" of the 1930s, next to the short-lived token dispenser "Golden Circle" of the 1970s. Several electronic meters from the '90s stand close by. The designs have changed, as have the prices--from an hour per nickel in the 1940s to a quarter for 12 minutes in the 1990s.

February storms caused $3 million in damage locally, according to a status report submitted to the City Council this week. About $2 million of the repairs are expected to be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; the rest will come from the city's general fund, said public works Director John Clement. Most of the damage has been from landslides, he said.

Should Mayor Richard Riordan go on an eight-city, 15-day trade mission to Asia, at a cost to taxpayers of $469,775? Members of the Los Angeles City Council, albeit somewhat reluctantly, agreed Tuesday that the trip was OK. But their vote was highly unusual, coming at the request of Controller Rick Tuttle, who wanted the council to approve the trip even though it has no authority to block it.

City Council members asked staff to complete a report by the end of the month outlining options available to them to balance the city budget without imposing hiring freezes. Since the late 1980s when city revenues dropped drastically, city officials said the city has used hiring freezes to make up for budget shortfalls. Recently city officials have questioned whether the practice is hindering the ability of department general managers to effectively run their offices.

The Los Angeles City Council approved spending $4.5 million Tuesday for three San Fernando Valley youth projects and the purchase of 80 acres of undeveloped land in Sherman Oaks for a new park. The bulk of the money was earmarked for buying a rocky, tree-lined area in the Santa Monica Mountains near Mulholland Drive known as the Deervale-Stone Canyon land.