EAA Take on the Budget
It's been a while since we've heard from the Engineers and Architechts Union - and their battle with Mayor Villaraigosa - but they sent over the following - analyzing the new city budget from their perspective (which is that they want the Mayor to pay them more).Dear Mayor Sam,
Just finished analyzing the new budget. Some things you might be interested in:
1) Mayor has increased his own offices budget by 28% and has budgeted for 10% increase in salaries to his own employees.
2) The 10.25% increase in police wages the Mayor said was needed to recruit new officers will be offset by 9% that the new officers will have to pay for their own retirement. This 9% will not apply to officers currently working for the LAPD.
3) Not only is he proposing to raise the refuse pick up fees, but he also intends to raise the following fees:
a. The Vacant Structure Penalty fee is added to the nuisance abatement. Also, code enforcement costs incurred by the City of Los Angeles by perfecting and enforcing liens against affected properties will be billed. (Building & Safety Dept.).
b. Increase various fees such as the certified copy, copy of a map, lot split affidavits, Council District maps, multi-owner runs, property ownership information; Increase the copy fee; Increase the fees for subscriber service. (City Clerk Office)
c. General admission fees at Municipal Art Gallery, Watts Towers and Hollyhock House. (Cultural Affairs Dept.).
d. Ambulance fee increase, Referral of unpaid ambulance billings to collections, Fees for Services report. (Fire Dept.)
e. Increase fees for Street, Curb and Utility permits including Stake Hole and Pipe inspections; and Utility General Excavation inspections. Also, increase the fees for Gates, Drains, Tree Wells, Curb, Sidewalk, Driveway, Paving, Gutters and Ramps inspections. (Street Services Dept.)
f. Increase all civil parking penalties by $5 per fine; fees associated with annual, visitor and guest permit fees charged for preferential parking permits; Establish a failure to display disabled placard fee of $25 per citation. (Transportation Dept.)
These increases are projected to take another $41,066,500 from the public. I thought you might be interested at some of the stuff hidden in this proposed budget. There’s plenty more and I will send notes to you about them in the near future.
Signed, Bob Aquino
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 5/04/2006 12:10:00 AM
45 Comments:
EAA, i'm so happy that AV is bitch slapping your union face. Your union thought you were cool slamming Jim Hahn on behalf of AV.
To 10:02 PM
Deal Julie, thanks for the note.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Please turn out the lights at 347 when you leave.
To 11:32 about 10:02.
While 10:02 could be Julie at the keyboard while her union career circles the toilet, it could be one the of CAO troglodytes. Little Bobby Aquino has been giving them and the mayor fits. Listened to an attorney / police officer explain why the City screwed up in have Bobby, the grandma and EAA staff arrested at the Council meeting. Can you say lawsui? I love how our ACLU loving mayor shredded the Bill of Rights when it suited him. Heaven help us!
Villaraigosa Using Police As "Human Shield" In Budget Battle
By Walter Moore - April 22, 2006
You're probably not going to read all 1983 pages of Mayor Villaraigosa's budget documents, which he released on April 20, 2006. So here's what you need to know to avoid being duped into supporting yet another tax hike, ostensibly to hire more police:
1. Just How Big Is The City Of L.A.'S Annual Budget?
Last year, the City's budget was $5.96 billion. This year, it will be $6.67 billion. That means the City's annual revenues have increased by $710 million. Did you catch that? The City has $710 million MORE available to spend this year than it did last year. And that's without any hike in our existing taxes.
2. Where Did The Extra $710 Million In Revenues Come From?
The money came, of course, from you, the taxpayer. More specifically, $587 million of the extra $710 million came from property taxes. As property values have increased, so have the revenues the City receives from property taxes. That $587 million in extra revenues, by the way, goes directly into the City's "General Fund," so it can be used for any lawful purpose, including, for example, hiring more police.
3. How Much Does Villaraigosa Want To Spend To Hire More Police?
Villaraigosa's budget calls for the City to spend $33.4 million this year to hire more police officers. You read that correctly: out of the $710 million in extra revenues that the City has this year, just $33.4 million would go toward hiring more police. In other words, just 4.7% of the City's additional $710 million is going towards hiring additional police.
So when Villaraigosa or anyone claims we need an increased trash tax to pay for more police, ask him to explain why the City cannot use the $710 million in increased revenues to cover this $33.4 million item without a tax increase.
4. How Many Officers Does Villaraigosa Want To Add This Year?
The correct answer is "135." You may have heard Villaraigosa say he wants to hire 650 "new" police officers this year. As his budget shows, however, he expects 515 current officers to retire or otherwise leave the force. Hence, although he refers to 650 "new" officers, his plan only calls only for 135 "additional" officers (650 - 515 = 135).
5. How Many Officers Does Villaraigosa Want To Add In Future Years?
Villaraigosa plans to increase the force by 880 officers over the course of four years: 135 officers this year; 220 the next; another 220 the year after that; and another 305 the year after that. By that time, according to his numbers, the cost of all 880 additional officers will be $182.4 million per year. That's right: the total cost for all 880 officers per year would be far less than the $710 million per year increase in City's revenues mentioned above.
According to Villaraigosa's own figures, moreover, his proposed trash tax, when fully implemented, would cost L.A.'s homeowners $127.5 million per year -- on top of all the sales, property and income taxes they already pay. But why should we endure another tax hike, supposedly to pay for more police, when the City's revenues have risen more than enough to pay for all the police Villaraigosa says he wants to hire?
6. Where Is The Rest Of The $710 Million Going?
Villaraigosa claims, "The cornerstone of this year’s budget is our strategic plan to recruit, hire and train 650 new police officers in FY2006-07." As shown above, however, this supposed "cornerstone" takes just 4.7% of the $710 million in increased revenues.
The real "cornerstone" of Villaraigosa's budget is an agency that gives your tax dollars to wealthy developers who build high-density housing and shopping centers, and, more importantly, who donate to the campaigns of career politicians. Villaraigosa's budget calls for the Community Redevelopment Agency to spend $439,321,900 of your money this year, an increase of $265,395,900 over the previous year's budget -- 37% of the City's extra $710 million.
That's right: the City's budget is up by $710 million this year; 37% of that increase is going to the Community Redevelopment Agency; but you're supposed to believe that the 4.7% for more 135 additional police officers is the "cornerstone" of the budget.
Hiring more police isn't the cornerstone of Villaraigosa's budget at all. Rather, hiring more police is a merely ruse, a pretext, to make you think that City Hall -- which is drowning in money as a result of increased property values -- is instead broke.
The same goes for Villaraigosa's claim -- in the spirit of Lizzie Borden -- that he "inherited" a deficit. Having been on the City Council when the last budget was adopted, he cannot claim to have inherited last year's budget. Plus, his own budget documents show that the last budget left the City not with a deficit, but instead with $470 million of "available balances" (i.e., cash collected from you but not spent).
So don't let Villaraigosa or anyone else get away with using our police as a human shield for budget shenanigans. The City has more than enough money to hire as many police as we need right now, without increasing our taxes one cent.
Which one of the LA reporters isn't a coward and will do more research and print this story.
How much money are these damn demonstations costing us tax payers? There's two more on May 20 and May 21st. People should storm city council and tell them the organizers better pay for the police officers, firefighters, dept. of transportation and everything else on THEIR OWN. NO MORE FREE RIDES. Media reporting this isn't a grass root effort anymore. the radicals have taen over and we will have more violence on May 20th
How do you spell R E C A L L ?
Get Toilet Guy and all of "His People" out of here, pronto!
They are not "American" and we are SICK of this little frijole and his campesinos.
I hope they do their little marches every day of the week until the public wakes up! Toilet Guy's "We are all Americans" crap is really pissing everyone off.
You can't changes the spots on this Mexican Reconquista boy! Get him out NOW!
It makes me wonder why Bernie Parks and many of the other council members are covering for AV ... perhaps it is time for the public to call their councilman for an explanation.
Why aren't the organizers paying for the costs of the illegal immigrant marches? The taxpayer gets screwed again!
AV should support the EAA, not ungrateful illegal aliens.
My councilman better not approve the budget. Has he even questioned how AV "magically" resolved the deficit AV has talked about... how about it
Bernie?
What council member is waiving these FREE street permits? How can we find out? Who is approving having the city pay for the additional services Antonio? Can someone help to find out? They should be paying especially if now the unions are involved and the Mexican American Political Assoc. They have money. If they had to pay for all these fees themselves they wouldn't be able to hold this city hostage.
Dear Gabachos(white patriots)
All your crying about immigrants
reflects your won sorry existence.
It is sad to see how much hate is in your hearts.
So blog away anonymously. That is why you are alone and alienated.
Is that why you blog anonymously pendejo?
Since Antojito loves to see his own face on TV, posters and such, let's put his face on the recall forms so everyone can recall what a lying son of a bitch he is. That will get us plenty of signatures.
9:46
My name is Otis Z. Gutieruiz.
Who are you Gabacho?
He's already working to put his face on the hundred peso note in Mexico, so he'd like your idea 9:55am.
Of course he's in Washington trying to get his face on TV... EAA has made it so that he's afraid to show his face in public in his own city. The people he screwed over may be there to shout him down. He is a "macho man"? About as macho as a little cornejo.
Signed, WOP San Pedro
Hey Otis, I'm your daddy!
Julie Buthcer's days are numbered.
I wonder what she is qualified to do next?
Ask AV
Hey Otis, tu 'uela!
Julie should be happy that their going for zero kills at the pound. She could at least hope to survive.
9:59
My daddy has huevos?
You are still anonymous.
i wonder why?
There are many of us who are Latinos who post here and are against these illegals robbing our city with free services. Just like an uneducated moron who always thinks the only ones critizing the illegals are white people.
Julie Butcher was appointed a commissioner spot by Antonio. How times have changed. I don't get these people. One minute you're attacking them personally venting rage and anger, next minute they are kissing their ass. How do they sleep at night?
10:09
How you spell "tapado".
Latinos against their own history and family is not new.
We call it the colonized mind in case you didn't go beyond H.S.
leave julie alone because she did not post anon 10;02pm.
if, anything at least julie is not one of av silly dogs that roll over with his bull-shit smie, hug, and i love you brother shit.
I challenge UTLA to ask Maria Elena when she going to stand-up for UTLA and other unions who have problems with av.
as, for eaa keep eating your plate of av shit.
We definitely will put his face on a recall initiative....but in the meantime...let's put his face on America's 10 MOST WANTED posters.
And, to the Latino against illegal immigration poster...I do apologize for the fact that it seems like only "Whites" oppose Tony Villar and his illegals. Believe me, we know that there are many latinos, including Mr. Rodriquez who started the "You Don't Speak For Me" movement.
When we say "WE", we mean "Americans, collectively...every race, color, and creed. Tony Villar is ANTI-AMERICAN and everyone knows it. And so are all of his book-lickers at City Hall.
We need to deport all of the Reconquistas, Mexican Consulates, Raza's, Lulacs, Maldesf, and ILLEGALS.
I have joined numerous activist groups and the grass roots organizations are hell bent on getting rid of them. We will win! We can vote...they can't!
'
I RECOMMEND THE "American Patrol" website...AmericanPatrol.com
for all the latest info and the greatest links to everything re illegals and how to become active.
Join our fight now!
The Hispanic-American Coalition were against the protests and stated "They aren't speaking for us"
In the papers today lots of groups becoming active on this illegal immigration issue.
AV recalled? Does not compute. AV 4 governor!
To Anonymous at 1:04 a.m.:
Thank you for posting my essay about the budget.
People need to know that revenues are up $700 million this year, and Villaraigosa can hire all the police officer he wants with just 4.7% of that increase. The trash tax is a scam. So is the phony "deficit," which is actually a surplus, courtesy of DWP, of about $200 million every year.
why is the trash tax a scam? Who will use it and for what?
I am an EAA member who is fed up with my Union's focus. My message to Bob Aquino is Hey Battlin' Bob - stop trying to prove to everyone that your wee wee is bigger than the Mayor's and look out for your member - ship instead.
Battlin' Bob is the only labor leader brave enough to stand up for his members.
Tell me which labor leaders in LA are standing up for employee rights.
I too am an EAA member and am proud to finally have a leader like Aquino who is not afraid to take on the hard task of doing what is best for me and my fellow members. My union is finally behaving like a true union and I will not stand for a weak ass stooge like 4:53 to bad mouth my leadership. 4:53 you sound like a typlical management suck ass. Don't let me find out who you are MoFo because you are part of the reason we have to fight so hard do get a decent COLA due to your lazy ass, management ass kissing, scared shitless, worthless excuse of a human being self.
I am a latina, LA resident, and EAA member who is appalled at the unmitigated gall of our Mayor who as more regard for the illegal immigrants than for his own employees (me and my coworkers). Here we (legal citizens) have been without a contract for almost 2 years and all he can tell us is that we must tighten our belts for the welfare of his city, but along comes the illegal immigrants and he stands up to proclaim the injustice as well as foot the bill for the marches. Be careful people, this guy makes alot of promises to you in spanish, but in the english press he sings a different tune. I am ashamed to be of the same race as this mayor.
Fellow engineers
I support you and your right for equal pay for equal work. I really like the way you dog the mayor at every public event, but one recommendation. while attending the API Kickoff event a couple friday's ago, your chants drowned out the mayor effectively, but you could have shown respect to the community leaders and honorees receiving recognition that day. this was probably a once in a life time event and many had family in attendance to share in the joy of honoring some for a lifetime of dedication to the community. you should have let them speak without shouting over them and picked it up again as MAV spoke again. Your cause is just, but you didn't gain any supporters that day. In the future show respect to the honorees and then diss the mayor.
To anon at 4:41:
To see why the trash tax is a scam, read the essay posted at 1:04 a.m.
Long story short: we don't need to increase taxes, because revenues are up, on their own, $700 million this year, and the cost of hiring more police is about 4.7% of that amount. So you take last year's budget, take 4.7% of the extra $700 million, and you already have hundreds of millions more lying around than last year. No need to increase taxes even higher.
Get it?
I'd like to see the Mayor take away the city vehicles from all these non-emergency GM's/Directors/BPW Commissioners and start making them record thir mileage, buy their gas, save their receipts, report on their taxes and take away their salary and make them hourly employees accountable for actual hours worked. How many upper management staff rip off the city on a daily basis by going to play golf, visit the doctor, pick up their child. I can go on and on. Tax payers should demand accountability and stop paying for taxes unnecessarily. These are the folks getting big bucks, make their staff do all the work to look good and jerk the residents of LA off on a daily basis. Wisen up people. It will get worse. There is rampant abuse among the city's executive staff.
Did anyone read that the Mayor's Deputy in charge of Transportation drives a Hummer? Now that's sensible. I know a lot of the council's staff have cars and take them home. Someone should find out how much we as tax payers are paying for the gas.
To 4;53 - Why don't you sign your name so the rest of the EAA members will know that you want 0% and the rest of the shitty COLA offer. Otherwise, shut the fuck up!
Damn I hate the (rare) occasion when Walter Moore makes sense!
cualli is laura chick in drag
#1-I believe EAA members deserve a fair COL.
#2-It's gonna take a strike to get it.
Walter,
Listen to Cualli Ocelotl. That poster is correct. I'm sure with your years and years of experience putting together a municipal budget you will understand what that poster is talking about.
It's easy to skim over the surface and interpret inaccurately, like you do. But I do wish that you would throw your hat in for a council seat and get involved in city government.
You can continue your quixotic (sorry spelling is probably off) attempt at mayor, but lets face it, you'll never get there.
LA is big time. This ain't no bush league Vernon or South Gate. Given, there are a number of bozos on the council, but it takes a piece of work to get there.
Are you able to organize? Are you able to raise money? Do you have the network to draw serious supporters?
If you are truly serious about being an elected, then run for council instead of being a yammering gadfly spewing broad and uninformed inaccuracies. It would be a pleasure hearing your views here after you've been elected.
I am a proud EAA member and our leader Bob Aquino is going to shut this city down when the time is right!!!
To 5:50 May 7.
Strike or shut up. I hate cowards.
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