What a fraud. L.A. has a massive deficit. One way to solve the problem is to get rid of over 2,000 jobs. Think that will save a lot of money. Nope. It will not save a single dime, not a nickel or a penny. Nothing is saved.
Those 2,000 jobs are vacant, no one is getting paid for the—so since no money is going out, no money can be saved. This is just another scam They are pretending to cut the budget—but if you are not spending money, there is nothing to cut. Note the media refuses to tell the public about the scam. The L.A. Times has not outed this scam.
““Although a list of targeted jobs is still being prepared, it could include unfilled positions at the police and fire departments, the Bureau of Sanitation and agencies responsible for parks, recreation programs and transportation, among others,” the Times reports.
In a statement to the Times, Bass’ spokesperson Zach Seidl said “some of these positions have been sitting vacant for multiple years,” though he added that police officers, firefighters, garbage truck operators and sanitation workers wouldn’t be affected.
So are they going to protect vacant positions in the police and fire department? Does it matter, since no one holds the jobs, they are doing nothing.
Los Angeles may cut 5% of city workforce
by: Cameron Kiszla, KTLA, 3/20/24 https://ktla.com/news/local-news/los-angeles-may-cut-5-of-city-workforce/SHARE
The city of Los Angeles may eliminate as many as 2,000 vacant positions, which would shrink the number of city employees by about 5%, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Thanks to a “steadily worsening financial picture,” Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council may remove these open positions, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said in a report on Monday.
“Although a list of targeted jobs is still being prepared, it could include unfilled positions at the police and fire departments, the Bureau of Sanitation and agencies responsible for parks, recreation programs and transportation, among others,” the Times reports.
In a statement to the Times, Bass’ spokesperson Zach Seidl said “some of these positions have been sitting vacant for multiple years,” though he added that police officers, firefighters, garbage truck operators and sanitation workers wouldn’t be affected.
“This process will involve difficult decisions, but the city will continue to provide needed services for Angelenos,” he said, as reported by the Times.
Opponents, like Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and SEIU Local 721 President and Executive Director David Green, suggested the cuts would reduce city services for residents.
“[Eliminating] up to 2,000 vacant positions within the city isn’t a feasible long-term solution when we’re just years away from the Olympics — a once-in-a-generation event poised to put enormous strain on front-line services across Los Angeles and beyond,” said Green.
Other options, which could be implemented alongside the job cuts, could include “hiking city fees, delaying public works projects and cutting back on consulting work,” Szabo said.
Actually, it does cut the budget. They budget for 1,000 positions in a department but only fill 800. They fund for 1,00 but only spend the money for the 800 hires for that department. The funding for the other 200 positions not filled gets to be accolated to something else.
In the current year budget, the Treasurer will guesstimate how many unfilled and thus unpaid positions there are. That contributes to the estimated ending balance. But when building the following year budget, he/she must include the vacancies. Then the Council cuts the vacancies in the budget year. Thus, on paper, you save the cost of 2,000 positions in the budget year. You are correct that no savings is actually gained in the budget year, but the savings is truly gained in budget year plus 1.