Bob Hertzberg for a Great LA: As-You-Go Accounting Isn’t Cool

Two big stories in the news this past week were the vote on the DWP rate increase and the record-breaking heat across Los Angeles. It may not be obvious what a hundred degree temperatures have to do with a candidate for mayor, but both of these issues highlight problems that need to be solved.

One of the problems highlighted by the DWP story is that you can’t develop a budget if you don’t know where the money is going and why. The City Council delayed a vote on the DWP budget and called for an outside auditor to pull together the full picture of the agency’s finances. It’s a fine idea, but if it’s good enough for DWP, why not examine every city agency? In a Hertzberg administration, the performance reviews will happen before the City Council votes, not after. It's been reported that Mayor Hahn knew that the DWP needed a rate hike when he first got to office. Three years later, we still don’t know how much of a hike is necessary because we still haven’t seen DWP’s books. Los Angeles deserves more transparency.

One of the downsides of as-you-go accounting is that neighborhoods aren’t given the time nor the information they need to weigh in on the services that impact not only their residents’ tax bills, but their quality of life. For example, both City Hall and the DWP have known about the need for rate hikes for years. Yet Councilwoman Janice Hahn has said that by the time many neighborhood councils heard about the DWP’s rate hike proposal, the DWP board had already approved an 18 percent increase (LA Times, 3/31/04). Telling neighborhood councils and the residents they represent that a rate hike is good medicine without telling them why is not the way to make neighborhoods feel empowered.

The recent heat wave underscored how little power neighborhoods actually have. As temperatures climbed into the hundreds, were kids able to cool off in their neighborhood public pools? Not if they lived in Northridge and Canoga Park. City Hall has said that there’s not enough money to keep the pools open (LA Daily News, 4/18/04). But as the DWP example shows, we really don’t know why we’re spending the money we have. Information is power, and the first step to neighborhood empowerment is giving neighborhoods the information they need to make priorities. That’s why one of the first things I will do is conduct a performance review of every city agency – including City Hall.

Comments

Bob,
I commend you for your stance on the DWP and the City's Budget! The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council passed a motion at our February 17, 2004 Board Meeting stating, "the GGPNC, at this time, opposes the rate increase, and will reconsider when DWP makes a more concerted and transparent case to the Neighborhood Councils." While I and 5 other members of the GGPNC voted against the motion because we felt the need for a rate increase after 12 years, the entire Board was in unanimous agreement with DWP becoming more transparent and opening its books to the residents of our great City. This is entirely overdue for every part of City government, and the aftermath of this incident has only reinforced our, and many others, view on this point. Thank You!

Posted by: Andrew Westall | May 19, 2004 at 10:09 PM