Hundreds of city workers and supporters marched to City Hall today to urge the City Council to drop plans to force civilian employees to take 26 furlough days to help offset a $529 million budget deficit.
Chanting slogans and carrying signs that said "A Better Way for L.A.," the workers crowded into the council chamber this morning. Many of them spoke during the public comment portion of the council's regular meeting, amid loud cheers from their supporters.
Stephanie Shelley, a deputy dispatcher for the Los Angeles Police Department, said the furloughs would affect public safety. "God help us if you don't make a wise decision," she told the council members.
Michael Duran, a deputy city attorney affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, said that instead of furloughs, the council should offer early retirement to about 3,000 senior employees, which he contended could save the city between $100 million and $196 million.
"The reason why this is preferable to furloughs is because it promotes the dignity of the person who is leaving, takes the highest-paid, longest- serving people and allows them to move on, giving opportunities to people coming up who would be paid at a lower rate, and it affects the budget for next year by clearing out highest paid people this year," Duran said.
The workers' union is negotiating to give senior employees up to three years of work credits, so that they can "virtually" reach the milestone of 30 years in service, or age 55. The mayor's office has said that the union's early retirement proposal would impact as many as 2,300 workers and cost the city $850 million over 15 years.
An alternate proposal put forward by the mayor more closely resembles a buyout, which would provide specifically identified employees with a one-time check for 40 percent of their salary. The workers, members of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions, marched from Hill Street, between First and Temple streets outside the Civic Center Metro stop, south to First Street, then east to City Hall.
The coalition comprises six unions representing nearly 22,000 city workers, including trash truck drivers, librarians, 911 operators, traffic control officers and after-school program recreation workers.
The City Council last Wednesday authorized a furlough plan that would likely shut down most city offices every other Friday in hopes of achieving $100 million in savings. The plan is set to take effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. Meanwhile, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was among a delegation of California mayors who met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sacramento this afternoon.
They wanted assurances that the governor would repay the tax revenues that he is considering borrowing from cities to close the state's historic $24 billion budget deficit. Schwarzenegger has said that he might borrow as much as $68 million of Los Angeles' property tax revenues and $57 million of local gas tax revenues. He may also suspend Proposition 42 payments to cities. That voter-approved measure requires that state sales and use taxes on the sale of motor vehicle fuel be used for public transportation, city and county street and road repairs, and state highway improvements.
"There is a better way," Villaraigosa said. "We come here as productive partners ready to work together and offer viable solutions that ensure our financial stability and chart a course toward more responsible fiscal stewardship."
Under Proposition 1A, the state is required to repay cities - with interest - for the borrowed property tax revenues over three years. However, no such protection exists for the gas tax revenues and Prop. 42 payments. Villaraigosa said any plan to withhold tax revenue from cities must be accompanied by a plan to return the money to local government as soon as possible. "Our willingness to sacrifice on the state's behalf does not represent an open-ended commitment or a blank check," he said. "We must be sure that our hard-earned tax dollars make their way back to taxpayers as quickly as possible."
The delegation included San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin.
