VICA Rebukes City Council on Budget

The Valley Industry & Commerce Association expressed outrage at the Los Angeles City Council for failing to solve the city’s budget shortfall after it was announced the council had voted down a measure that would have handed about 1,000 employees pink slips. “Instead of making the tough leadership decisions necessary, the council delayed job cuts that added $4 million to the budget gap,” said the business-advocacy group, based in Sherman Oaks. “The city must follow the example set by the private sector, which is to first cut costs in a meaningful way during times of economic crisis,” said VICA Chair Daymond Rice. “The business success stories that will emerge from this recession will be focused on those companies that first cut costs, then identified and executed opportunities for innovation and efficiency. Municipal government is no different. Today, Los Angeles remains at step one.” VICA’s leaders say they want the city to be run more like a business, especially as the economy recovers from the recession. (Businesses) know that when revenues are down, expenses must be cut, the statement said. “The fact that there seems to be a complete lack of understanding as to the seriousness of this problem is extremely concerning,” said VICA President Stuart Waldman. “The idea that raising taxes is even a consideration in this economy shows just how out of touch some councilmembers are with the real world.” A coalition of business groups that includes VICA, Biz Fed, Central City Association and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce recently submitted a proposal to city leaders to help manage the pension crisis. The eight recommendations, which the groups say have been “basically ignored,” are: increasing employee contribution rates to reflect market conditions; raising eligible retirement age to Social Security age; reevaluating post-retirement health care benefits; lowering the annual service credit for each year worked and cap total pension benefits; servicing credit purchase based on actuarial value; eliminating so-called pension spiking; raising the number of mayoral-appointed pension board members; consolidating the three agencies administering Los Angeles pension funds “If not addressed the city’s current pension structure will drive L.A. to bankruptcy.” Waldman said. “This is not a time for Pollyanna lawmakers to worry about making every squeaky wheel happy; this is a time for strong leaders to make serious and painful cuts to keep the city solvent.” Thom Senzee